Battlefield of Love
by HardRiRi
Summary: Set in the 30th Century, King Endymion has been kicked out of the palace by Neo-Queen Serenity. She has discovered that he cheated on her with another woman. Can they get past this or will their love be like a battlefield? Find out... COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

This is my second Fanfic! I hope you enjoy it! Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailormoon characters.

**Please read and review! Thanks! ^_^**

**Chapter 1: Tension**

Neo-Queen Serenity rolled over in her bed, her gaze resting on her husband, King Endymion. His breath rose and fell like a child bouncing happily on a trampoline. She had thought about this moment for quite some time now and she never expected it to come to this. She swiped a stray hair away from his forehead and gripped onto his shoulder. She rocked him gently back and forth, slowly at first and then a little more vigorously to wake him up.

"Darien," she whispered. "Darien… Darien… Endymion!"

"Huh?! What?" His grey eyes suddenly popped open and he looked around a little bit before relaxing. He stared back at Serena and cupped her face into his hand, "What's the matter?"

She braced herself for what she was about to say and removed his hand from her cheek, "I want you out of here tomorrow morning."

The sleep that had wrought his face disappeared suddenly and he sat up slowly in their bed. With his eyes wide open, his jaw unhinged, he asked wearily, "T-tomorrow morning? Are you sure about this? Serena I thought –"

"You thought _what_?!" she snapped as sat up straight and puffed her chest out slightly with confidence. "You thought you could sneak around, you thought you could cheat on me?!"

Darien swallowed hard as he felt his blood freeze in veins. The light bouncing off of earth was illuminating the early morning hours and made his face look even paler. As much as he loved his planet, he couldn't bare the thought of leaving the moon and leaving his family. A cold sweat blanketed the edge of his hairline and he did his best to stand his ground.

Serena stood up from the bed and turned around to face her once beloved husband. His mouth opened and closed a few times while his eyes searched for an answer. She crossed her arms over her chest and said sternly, "Don't say anything. Don't even try. You can't. You persuade me from my decision. Please leave in the next few hours. We'll sit Rini down, talk to her like the adult that she is becoming and tell her what happened. _Everything_. From when we supposedly started to drift to when you thought it was smart to get together with fast and loose women—"

"They weren't fast and loose!" he exclaimed suddenly. Darien was a goddamn king! He would not sit around and let his wife ridicule him or his conquests.

"Don't you dare defend them!" she screamed. There was a rage in her eyes that he had never seen pointed at him. He had seen it when she fought monsters, battled evil, even telling their teenage daughter that she couldn't go out late or getting into an argument with Rei. But never with him.

"You broke my heart, you broke this family, and it was all your choice," she declared with a low and steady voice. "I don't know what I did in order for you to move away from me, but you should have _talked_ to me!"

"When?! When was I supposed to talk to you?!" he burst as he shot up from their bed, matching her stance. "In between meetings? After your address to the one of the many planets? After your training with the scouts? When am I supposed to come forward and talk to you about our sex life? You're right; I should've just walked up to you after a planetary dinner and ravished you."

"I can't listen to this," she breathed as she stormed over to his closet area and dragged out his luggage, opened them up and started to throw his clothes into them.

"No, of course you don't want to listen to our bedroom problems," he scoffed. "Why would you? Just shut me out like you always do!"

She spun around and screamed, "I am queen of this planet! I put my planet, my people, and peace before anything else between you and me! But you… you became selfish! Don't you dare blame me for the destruction of our marriage; you did this all on your own."

"So because you're queen of the moon, I have to stand on the side lines?" he asked. "Am I not king?!"

"Not of this planet, you're not," she muttered, continuing to put his things away and plopping down on the carpeted floor of the closet. "You are king of the earth. When you married me, that didn't make you king of the moon. Know your place."

"I thought my place was alongside you."

Darien knelt down beside her and placed his hand cautiously on her shoulder. She turned and looked at the hand that had cupped her face, held their baby, gripped her own hand as they spoke vows to one another. Vows … those vows _meant_ something! It meant that he shouldn't run away at every view of a problem in front of them.

"You lost your place alongside me the moment you ran to someone else," she said with venom. "Please don't touch me."

He removed his hand and fell back against the wall of the closet, "Can't we at least figure out what to do before you ship me off? What about therapy? Or a vacation? Something…"

Rolling her eyes, "Right, when can we schedule time for that?" Pausing for a moment before she continued, "I need to think about our relationship before we can another step as husband and wife and in order to do that, I need you away from me."

Darien pounded the back of his head against the wall as tears streamed down his face. He couldn't believe this was happening. Had he really strayed away so much that neither of them could get back to the way they were?

"I love you Serenity," he whispered through his thick, wet tears.

"That's just it," she replied, "you love Serenity, not Serena. There is a difference. You've forgotten that." She stood up and stepped over his legs. Pausing at the door, she looked over her shoulder, "Like I said, I want you out of here in the next few hours. We will have a private breakfast with Rini and tell her exactly what's going on before you leave. To the press we will tell them you are looking into what is happening down on earth and personally investigating it yourself. Don't write to me or call me. Let me come to you first."

Once she was done with her speech, she walked away from the closet and strolled into their bathroom. She locked the door behind her – a first in their whole entire relationship. Serena turned the large shower on, undressed and stepped inside. She slid down the wall of the shower and let the tears mix in with the water that poured down on her head.

What had they come to?

**More to come soon! Please read and review! Thank you!!**


	2. Chapter 2: Explanation

I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! Well here's the second one. Please leave comments; I'd love to hear what you think.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailormoon characters

**Chapter 2: Explanation**

Rini walked into the large drawing room, cautious of her step. Her parents only called her into this delicate room when she was in trouble. She bit her lip trying to think of what she had done in the past few days to make them mad at her. She did all of her studies, wasn't late to tutoring, had spent ample time training, and was being very social with her friends. If being a well-rounded child was a bad thing, then she was in for it; otherwise she couldn't think of anything she had done wrong.

Her footsteps were muffled by the oriental rug below her feet as she shuffled toward the oak and silk couch across from her parents. Neo-Queen Serenity tossed a warm smile towards her daughter and got up from her chair. She sat next to Rini while King Endymion stayed in his seat. He looked uncomfortable and there were bags under his eyes. She almost thought her father was sick, but he had been in good health for as long as she could remember. So what was the problem?

"What's going on?" Rini asked, feeling her heartbeat pick up a few extra pulses.

"Darling … your father and I have something to tell you," Serena started.

"Are you guys having a baby?" she blurted.

"N-no," her mother replied, furrowing her brow and trying not to laugh.

"Please, the air would be less somber and more up beat if we were having a child," Darien murmured.

Serena shot him wicked glance before turning back to Rini, "You father is going away for a while."

The pink hair princess shrugged, "Okay. Are you going with him? Is this another political trip?"

"No dear. Your father and I are having marital problems and he will be leaving this afternoon to Earth," she explained. "We wanted to bring this to you personally. We will be telling the press that he's going on official business to discuss politics and all that nonsense, but the truth is …. The truth is …."

"The truth is that you're kicking Dad out and leaving me to suffer with you!" Rini screamed. Her teenage temper tantrums had gotten worse and worse as she grew older and resenting her mother seemed to be one of her favorite past times. "I knew you would do this sooner or later!"

"Rini it's not my fault!" Serena exclaimed. "You don't understand the depth of this issue!"

"Yes I do! You want me all to yourself! You are so selfish Mom!"

"That's enough Rini!" Darien snapped. He had never raised his voice at his daughter, but she was way out of line at this point. He uncrossed his legs and folded his sweaty hands as he announced, "I cheated on your mother and we need some time apart."

There it was. The words had finally come out of his mouth and stabbed Serena right in the heart. She shook her head and covered her face with her hands as tears escaped from her blue eyes. She could feel the sobs bubbling up her throat. The tension in the room was starting to make her body shake with anger, rage, and depression. Before Rini could reach out to her distraught mother, she jumped up from the couch and stormed out of the room. Darien lowered his head as the wooden door was slammed furiously by his wife. His daughter stared at him with a questioning look in her eyes.

"I don't understand…. Dad, what happened?"

"Sexual frustration, anger, bitterness toward your mother …. It's a lot of things that have built up over the years. Before I ever explain myself to you, I need to do it to your mother."

"But how did she find out? Did you tell her?"

"No," he replied. "I don't know how she found out or who told her, but she approached me about a week ago. I couldn't lie. I confessed to the accusation and she simply said that we would figure out what we would do when the time comes. Well last night, or rather early this morning, she decided it was best if I left. She arranged for a ship to take me back to Earth and then we would move on from there.

"It's a tough situation," he continued, "and one that I'm not proud of at all. I'm really ashamed of myself for what happened, I take full responsibility, but marriage is never easy. It's especially hard when you're the highest political figure in the universe."

Rini nodded in agreement, but kept her lips shut tight in fear of saying something that could possibly offend her father. There was a knock at the door and Sailor Venus entered the room. She had kept her pissed off expression from her face as she announced, "The ship is ready your majesty."

"That's a lot faster than I expected," he replied.

"What can I say? Lita and Ami are masters of getting things done quick and precise. They're a great team," she explained.

"You mean when they want me out of here," he said snidely, standing up.

"No, I mean when they want to protect Queen Serenity and do as she asks," Mina corrected. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

Darien sighed and took a few steps toward Rini who was now standing. She was getting taller and taller as the years went on. She was now at his shoulder, passing her mother by a few inches. He leaned over and kissed the moon crescent embedded on her forehead. He simply nodded to his little girl and then walked out of the room.

"I have to get changed into my armor before I get on board," he announced.

As he walked passed Mina, she called out to him, "All of your things are in the golden room." He stopped dead in his tracks and turned around to look at her, "The Queen had us remove your things from her room while you were at breakfast."

"It's _our_ room!"

"Not anymore."

He growled under his breath before storming off to the lovely adorned guest bedroom that was used for the highest of visitors. At least he wasn't in one of the smaller rooms with joining bathrooms; those were a punishment to politicians who didn't listen to Serenity's policies.

Rini walked up to the doorframe next to Mina and leaned against the wood panel. She crossed her arms over her button down shirt and knitted her brow as she watched her father walk away. That was the same man that she had looked up to when she was younger, the same man who taught her to be tough; now here he was at his weakest state and yet he still carried himself with such confidence.

"How did this happen?" Rini asked out loud, not particularly to Mina.

"I don't know," Venus answered. "Serena wouldn't explain anything more to us other than that he had cheated. We don't know how she found out or who it is…"

"I'm gonna find out!"

Before Rini could run after her father, Mina grabbed onto her arm and pulled her back, "No. This isn't your place to go snooping. You have to let your parents work this out on their own. If this happened to you, would you want your daughter or son giving you the third degree?"

She bowed her head; the scout made sense.

"Well since Mom isn't going see Dad off, I might as well, right?" Rini asked.

"Yeah, you should do that," Mina responded with a forced smile.

Rini stood at the ship's entrance as her father walked toward her in his full armor and sword at his side. His disposition looked like he was carrying something; normally when he was in his usual armor, he walked with such ease. He pursed his lips and tilted his head at his daughter. She was in her well-known white princess dress for the cameras and press who were surrounding them. She smiled and kissed his cheek before venturing up into the ship with him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, holding his arm out for her to take.

"I'm here to see you off," she answered.

"And?"

"And go with you to Earth since Momma won't," she blushed.

Darien removed his arm from her grasp and turned to his daughter, "Rini … why? Why would you do this? You know your mother will be furious. No, no this can't happen darling."

"Let her be furious; she's always yelling at me about something anyhow!" she snapped. Her face softened a bit, "I want to know what happened Dad…. Please."

He sighed and clasped his hand over hers, "Come." He dragged her to the back of the ship where his chambers were kept. He pointed to his bed and she plopped down like when she was little girl. Darien headed to his liquor cabinet and took out a crystal container holding a vat of whiskey. He poured himself a glass on the rocks in a tumbler and sipped it slowly before starting his story.

"Your mother has been busy all her life," he started. "When you returned from the past, it was even more so. She had to make sure you learned everything, she had to be the mother that she had missed out for the years you had been gone. On top of all that, she had to keep up her own training, have political meetings, and produce policies that would benefit not only Crystal Tokyo, but the universe. It's a very complicated life your mother and I lead.

"But … erm, it grew to be even more difficult as she drifted away from me and sunk deeper into the politics of her job as queen. She set up more dinners, more balls, more events and all without my help. I felt a little useless next to her power. So that's when I started going on monthly trips to Earth where I'm needed. And … that's where I met her."

"Who?"

"Stella. Stella Belle," he answered.

"The prime minister of Earth?!" Rini exclaimed as she jumped up into a standing position.

Darien sipped his whiskey and nodded, "Yup. She's who I go and see every time I travel there. We have discussions about the different countries, how they can all work as a whole, and we want the Moon Kingdom and Earth to be more connected."

"Well you did a fine job of botching that idea," she growled as she crossed her arms over her blossoming chest. "Mom will never agree to becoming more connected with Earth if this woman stays in power. I can't believe you did that. I … I have to leave. I can't go with you to Earth. It was a stupid idea."

Rini couldn't even look at him any more. She stormed out of his room and off the ship. She wiped any emotion off her face as the press tried to get her to explain why she was on the ship for such an extended period of time. She simply said that she would miss her father when he went to Earth. Her hair and dress started to blow in the wind of the ship's departure.

'_Good riddance,_' she thought before venturing back into the palace.

Serena stood at the window of her bedroom with tear tracks lining her face. She pressed her hand lightly against the glass pane as she watched the ship take off. What was she going to do? Divorce? Was that too drastic? Could she really continue on in this relationship with such a giant cloud over her?

A huge wave of emptiness suddenly washed over her and she crumpled to the ground without warning. Sobs escaped from her lips as she let herself cry over the broken marriage she had always thought was indestructible. A set of slender arms wrapped around her upper body and she looked up to see that she was enveloped by her daughter and surrounded by her scouts. She wailed into Rini's chest and clutched onto her child; she was the last thing keeping her and Darien together.

**More to com soon!! Please review for me! I'd love some feedback! **

**Next chapter: Serena explains how she found out.**


	3. Chapter 3: Curiosity

Hope you guys are enjoying the progress of this story! I know I'm enjoying writing it. ^_^ Please leave feedback and comments and tell me what you think.

PS: Rini gets better as the chapters move along, but she is a rebellious teenager so she's bound to have an attitude problem.

**Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailormoon characters**

**Chapter 3: Curiosity**

* * *

Lita, Ami, Rei, and Mina all sat around the fire in silence. Lita was pacing back and forth, Mina was twirling her hair around her finger, Rei was flipping a coin through her fingers, and Ami was reading a book supposedly, but she had been staring at the same page for an hour. A door slam broke the silence and all four of them turned to find Queen Serenity entering with Luna and Artemis at her feet and a bottle of the King's best whiskey in hand. They all straightened up a bit more and waited for her to speak. She was in one of Darien's tuxedo shirts; she had stolen it from him when he was in the bathroom earlier that morning.

"How are you Serena?" Mina asked.

She sat on the floor in the center of all four chairs that had been shaped in a U in front of the fire.

"Lita, please sit," Serena begged, her voice cracking.

"I can't! I'm so pissed at Darien for doing this to you!" she exclaimed.

"Lita…"

She stopped pacing and caught Serena's tear-filled gaze. She slouched a little and walked over to the empty chair she had left. Her leg bounced up and down restlessly, but at least she was sitting. Luna walked up to Serena and curled up in her lap.

"I want to explain to you all how I found out," she said staring off at spot on the carpet. She held her arms out and looked at the sleeves, "It starts with this shirt."

"I'll be just a minute Luna!" Serena exclaimed as she bounded into her bedroom.

* * *

Darien was coming home that day and she wanted to greet him in one of his shirts and nothing more. She had to choose the right garment though. She tore through his closet and found the crisp white shirt that he had worn as Tuxedo mask. She beamed at it until she caught a certain scent from it. With her face covered with curiosity, she leaned forward and sniffed the fabric.

"Maybe it's just the fabric softener," she thought aloud. But upon investigating this scent, she dug through all of his shirts and found that this one in particular was covered in something different.

She backed out of the closet and walked to her bedroom door to find Luna waiting for her. She beckoned the cat inside and asked, "Will you smell something for me?" Serena went into the wardrobe and pulled out the shirt. She held it to Luna's nose whose eyes popped open the moment she smelled it.

"Oh my …"

"It's not a good sign, is it?" she asked.

Luna shook her head.

"Please leave. I need to be alone," she declared. As Luna exited, Serena ordered, "Have one of the servants bring me two bottles of wine and a glass please."

Once she broke into the wine and was getting a little bolder with each sip, she started to go through his pockets in his pants, his coats, his other shirts, sweat pants, sweatshirts. And then when she though that this was a ridiculous idea, she felt cold metal in her grasp. She pulled out a long gold chain with a golden key encrusted in diamonds. She recognized it from somewhere, but she couldn't figure it out. However, with this information in her head, knowing that another woman had been around her husband and this closely to embed her scent on his shirt – _her_ favorite shirt – she thought it best to finished her red wine before he came home.

Serena turned out every light in the room and let the earth light beam in through the tall windows. About an hour later and half way through her second bottle of wine, Darien waltzed into the room. He smiled at his wife as he strolled toward her, but her face was covered in anger and her lips were stained purple from the wine.

"Um … hi," he said, slowing his steps. "Are you alright, darling?"

She pushed herself off of the bed, took her half empty glass of wine where she had dropped the key necklace in and poured it all over his head. Darien stood still as the red liquid dripped down his face and stained the carpet around him. He held his hand out as he felt the weight of the metal slip off his head. When the necklace landed in his palm, his eyes widened. Serena just glared at him as she stumbled backwards to sit back down on the bed. She extended her arms out in front of herself.

"Who is she? The woman is all over your Tuxedo Mask shirt – _my_ favorite shirt. Her necklace was in your pants pocket," she explained drunkenly, her words slurring a little bit.

"You're drunk—"

"But I'm not stupid!" she shouted. "Who is she? Who is she?"

She got up again and dragged him by his tie down to the bed. She climbed on top of him and scowled, "Did you cheat on me?"

"Serena, are you—"

She slapped him across the face and asked again, "Are you cheating me?"

He drew in a deep breath as his heart beat sped up and he said, "Yes."

She let the fear consume her and practically blind her as she leapt off of him, grabbed his tie again and swung him around so hard that he stumbled backwards into their dresser, crashing into the mirror, glass bottle, and empty wine glass. He had forgotten how strong Serena was. Before she could lash out at him again, he grabbed her wrists and pushed her away. There was a fire in her eye; she wanted to beat him up, pummel him down, maybe even if kill him.

"Serena, let me explain myself," he begged.

"No, no, no!" she screamed as tears ran down her face. "I could stab you! I could murder you right now!"

Her face grew red as he backed away from her. She fell to the ground and started to cry, letting her wails and sobs fill the room that was clouded with tension. She may have been queen, but she was still the same Serena that Darien had fallen in love with and to see her so upset broke his heart. He knelt down wrapped his strong arms around her. She tried to resist and even started to punch him, but her blows did nothing to stop him. He scooped her up into his grasp and laid her down on the bed. She winced as he pulled his touch away from her. She lashed out for his hand and pulled him on top of her. Her slender hands slipped through his black hair and pulled his face closer to her. Darien had always been hers; even when he had been dating Rei for a little bit and their small break-up after they had defeated all of the evil in the world. She was sickened with the thought that someone else had taken him from her. She needed to claim her territory again. Serena searched his glassy grey eyes and then suddenly smashed her lips against his. She pulled him down on her and removed his jacket. The weight of him on top of her was something she had missed oh so much.

"Make love to me," she pleaded in between the passionate kisses that ensued.

"As you wish," he replied with a breathy tone.

He was ready to rip open the shirt she was wearing, but she stopped him. She slowly unbuttoned it, gentle with her touch at every move. Serena removed the shirt, exposing her naked body to him and dropped it down on the floor. Darien hadn't seen her nude in such a long time that he let his eyes drink it up. With the way things were going he probably wasn't going to see her like this for quite a while. She ignored his gaze that was fixated primarily on her breasts. She started to undress him quickly before she changed her mind; the tie, the suspenders, ripping open his shirt, etc. She let her fingertips slide up and down his well sculpted stomach and continued to kiss him as he removed his lower garments.

Before entering inside her, Darien paused and whispered above her lips, "I love you so much Serenity."

Serene took a sharp breath as he slid inside her and let herself become enwrapped in passion.

* * *

"And just like that you had sex?" Rei asked, a twinge of anger in her tone.

Serena took a sip of whiskey from the crystal container. She wiped her lip clean of the excess alcohol and lazily glared at Rei, "I wanted to remove this woman from my husband's body. It was the only thing I could think of in that state of mind. I wouldn't ever re-do it if I had the chance. It was … an _experience_.

"The next morning I woke up before him and washed myself harder than I ever had. I scrubbed my skin until it turned red and was raw. I got dressed, took his tuxedo shirt – _this_ tuxedo shirt – and had one of the servants wash it five times in bleach before I would touch it. I can still smell her on it though."

Ami tilted her head as she said, "So you let him stay here for a whole week before you decided to tell him to leave?"

"What made you wait?" Mina continued.

"I love him," she shrugged. "I have always loved him. I will never stop loving him... ever. I want to go back to the way we were before this train wreck. I thought that if I just ignored it things would be fine, but it wasn't. I grew more and more hurt. Every time we climbed into bed together, I thought of how another woman had been wrapped up in his arms. Another woman had slept beside him. Another woman had made love to him."

She tied her arms around her knees, squeezing Luna out of her lap. The scouts looked at her with concern. The queen only drank when she was at a party or ball and even then it was usually a glass of wine or a glass of champagne. She had never really been disgustingly drunk. The flames crackled and danced in the silence and stillness of the room.

"Have you told Rini how you found out?" Lita asked.

"No. What would I say? 'Mommy smelled another woman on Daddy's shirt, found a necklace, got drunk, beat Daddy up, and then we made love.' That would go over great with her," she scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "I believe Darien told her that we 'talked' and that we're 'working it out'. She doesn't need to know the extent of our argument."

They all nodded in agreement with her and then covered themselves in silence again. Serena rubbed her upper arms and closed her eyes. This whole problem was exploding all around her and she couldn't believe it had actually happened to her. Lita had been in a relationship before where her boyfriend (almost fiancé) had cheated multiple times on her. This was why she was so up in arms over the whole situation. She was one of the few people who knew the pain she was going through. Mina, Ami, and Rei could only merely try to understand. Although Rei had been through her own hardships with men; her brief husband years back died during a battle on Neptune. She held her head high after the event, did her best to show no emotion, and resented Sailor Neptune because of it.

"I called the outer scouts to come to Crystal Tokyo," Mina announced. "They'll be here tomorrow afternoon."

Rei shifted in her chair a little bit at the comment.

"That's fine," she replied dully as she stood to her feet. Some of the scouts started to get up, but she held her hand out to them, "Don't. I'm going to bed."

With that she walked out of the room and padded down the marble hallways barefoot, her steps making noise in the dark night. She made it into her room that she once shared with a loved one and shut the white doors behind her. The rage and sadness that she had inside her bubbled a little bit as she swallowed what felt like a rock. She walked over to the vanity and placed the whiskey container on the glossy top. She opened the large bottom drawer and pulled out a battered shoe box where she kept all of her memories and photos. Most of her pictures were now digitally saved in the kingdom's system, but she liked to have something tangible and something to hold. Serena walked back to the double doors and shouted out at a passing servant, "Get me some cigarettes!"

She bounded over to her bed and sat down on it placing the box of remembrances in front of her. A servant quickly sprinted into her room with a fresh packet of cigarettes and a lighter and then left just as quickly as he came. She tapped the pack against her palm and opened it up, sniffing the sweet smell of tobacco. It reminded her of raisins. She pulled out a white stick and placed it between her lips before lighting it. The first drag felt amazing as the smoke filled her lungs. She blew the grey substance out and held the lit cigarette between her fingers as she went through her pictures.

There was a light knock at her door and she bid the person to come in. It was Rini. She looked like she had been crying. Serena patted the spot beside her and her daughter rushed to the bed. She curled up next to her mother and sniffed a little bit.

"I hate him," Rini said through her tears.

"No you don't sweetheart," Serena replied as she took a drag of her cigarette.

She blew the smoke out away from her daughter's face and started to run her nails gently against her pink scalp. Rini huffed a little bit and then sat up straight. She looked into the box of memories and picked up a photo of her parents at their wedding.

"You were so happy," she said, her eyes blank.

"Yes we were," her mother replied. She ran her slender finger over Darien's face, "Neither of us wanted outfits that resembled our past or future selves. I wanted a dress that resembled my present. He wanted a jacket that expressed joy and that day of exchanging vows. It took three months to get it specially made for him with all of that embroidery."

"I remember helping you find the dress," Rini beamed. "You tried on so many."

"Fifty-seven to be exact. It took fifty-seven dresses to try on before I found the right one."

"Will you and Daddy ever be okay?"

"I don't know sweetie."

She tapped her cigarette in the crystal ashtray on her night stand as another knock hit her door. She bid the person in to discover that it was multiple people; the scouts slowly and cautiously entered the room. They all wore light, silk and cotton nightgowns in their respective colors. Serena stared at them while taking a drag of cigarette as they tip-toed in. Blowing the smoke out between her lips, she stabbed the stick into the ashtray.

"We thought you could use some company," Lita stated.

"Please, come, sit," Serena ordered as she covered the shoebox with its lid. She put it on the floor and slid it under her bed. She pulled back the covers and got in the middle of the bed, sliding underneath the cotton Egyptian sheets. Rini snuggled right alongside her and Rei climbed in on the other side followed by Lita and Ami. Mina curled up next Rini. All six of them cuddled together, arms tangled and webbed together. Luna, Artemis and Diana quietly walked in and curled up together at the bottom of the bed. Serena had never felt more loved; her friends always knew what to do and what to say.

* * *

Next in Chapter 4: Serenity and co. go to Earth to confront Darien. What sort of adventures, arguments or fights will ensue? Find out next!

Please review for me! I'd really appreciate feedback. ^_^


	4. Chapter 4: Rage

This is the next installment of Battlefield of Love! I hope you guys are enjoying it! I know I'm certainly enjoying the feedback I'm getting; it motivates me to post faster. Lol.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 4: Rage**

The next morning Serena woke up to giggling. She looked to her right to find Rini being licked by Diana. The rest of the scouts were slowly starting to wake up. That day the outer scouts were going to come and see how Serena was doing. She was getting better and better the more support she had from her friends, but it was still hard for her to think about life without Darien. He was her missing puzzle piece. No matter how many people filled her bed, she still missed listening to his heart beat behind his tough chest at night.

During her restless slumber, she had come to the decision to go to Earth. She longed to see her husband with mixed emotions of wrath and love. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do, what she was going to say, or what would happen if she suddenly barged in on her husband. Would she catch him in the act? Would they find their love again, remembering their past-life of being a prince and princess when she would sneak down to Earth to see him? She would find out. And with her newly gained confidence, she felt like any outcome would be better than none; it would be better than waiting around on the moon, in her palace, trying to figure out what to do.

Serena sat up in bed and looked around at her friends, "When the outer scouts get here, I want to go Earth."

Rei's violet eyes widened a little bit, "Serena, do you—"

"I know what I'm doing. Please. I want all of you around me as we go there," she said. "I'll explain more at lunch when everyone is here."

The scouts started to sleepily file out of her bedroom in order to get changed. Artemis followed Mina out of the room while Rini and Diana stayed behind. She was biting her lower lip, making her kitten worry a little bit. Serena looked at her daughter before asking, "Are you alright dear? You don't have to go with us to Earth if you don't want to."

It's not that she didn't want to go; it was that she was scared what might happen if she saw her mother approach her father. What if that woman was there? What if her mom walked in on them kissing or worse? Would Rini be in trouble as well? She pondered this for a moment.

"I'm fine Momma," she replied. She got out of bed and walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Serena was left alone with Luna finally. A sigh escaped her lips, "If my hair wasn't already white, I would think I'm getting grey hairs from this awful experience."

"What are you going to do on Earth?" Luna asked.

"Confront him," she shrugged. "I need to speak to him about our troubles and whether or not he wants to stay on Earth. I'm not about to call or send him mail. It keeps a barrier up."

And as if on cue, there was a knock on her door and an envelope was slipped underneath. She leapt out of bed and raced to grab the parcel. There was a wax stamp on the back of the envelope, sealing it. It was a rose engraving; Darien's signature. She rolled her eyes and pursed her chapped lips as she opened up the letter.

"To the love of my life," she read aloud, "I know you said not to write to you, but I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. It hasn't even been twenty-four hours and already I'm going crazy with grief. I want to explain to you how sorry I am, but I can't find the words to correctly describe my apologies.

"Please find it in your heart to take a step forward with at least a meeting with me.

"Forever yours, Darien."

She folded the letter closed and imagined different ways to destroy it; she could burn it, tear it up by hand, knife, or chainsaw, or she could blend it in a smoothie and make the woman who he cheated with drink it. Opening her eyes, she figured she liked the latter the best, but she still didn't know who this mystery woman was.

"Are you going to tell him you're headed to Earth?" Luna asked.

"No. And I don't want any news about it heading to the planet that I'm arriving there. Can you go and talk to the press secretary and head of security to see what we can do about this?"

Luna nodded and bounced out of the room. Serena closed the door behind her cat and then slid over to the side of her bed. She pulled out her memory box and opened it up. Staring back at her was a picture of Darien and her at the hospital after giving birth to Rini. She placed the note and envelope right on top as a reminder of the pain he caused and the family he destroyed. Upon closing the lid, she examined the tuxedo shirt she was still sitting in. She debated on burning it, but she decided against it. Instead she went into Darien's partially empty closet and put it up on a hanger, letting it sit all by its lonesome.

The full group of Sailor Scouts sat around the large conference room table restlessly. Sun light beamed in through the tall window shaped after the Chartres Cathedral in France. Rei was doing her best to not look at Sailor Neptune, but it was difficult what with her long turquoise hair. Michiru looked down at Haruka's shaking leg. She placed her hand on her bare knee and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Calm down dear," she murmured.

"I can't help it."

"I feel you on that," Lita nodded from across the table. "I can't sit still knowing Darien is still breathing."

"Has she explained anything to you all about why she wants to go down to Earth?" Setsuna asked. She rarely left her lonely post at the gate of time, but she was determined to help her queen out in her time of need.

The inner planet scouts shook their heads no as Neo-Queen Serenity and her daughter breezed into the room. She gestured for them to all sit back down even before they could stand up straight. She sat down at the head of the table and Rini took her seat in between her mother and Mina.

"I'm sorry to have kept you all waiting," she said. "I received a letter from King Endymion and was caught up in the moment a little bit."

"What did it say?" Rei asked.

"Was he begging for forgiveness?" Lita asked.

"Was he groveling at your feet?" Haruka chimed in.

"No, he wasn't. He simply asked to take a step forward together to solve this dilemma. He said he can't stop thinking about me," she answered.

"He never wrote you letters before when he went on his trips to Earth," Rini pouted.

"He wasn't in trouble before either. He's on my bad side and you know that's not a good place to be," she grinned. Looking back at her troop, she continued, "The reason why I need you all to come along with me is because I don't know how I'm going to react. I am filled with such anger and fury … I'm having a hard time containing it. I need you guys to keep me level headed."

"We can do that," Ami reassured her, clasping her hand over Serena's. "Whatever you need, we'll be there for you."

She smiled and then turned her attention to the outer scouts, specifically Sailor Pluto, "Setsuna, if you need to return to your post at the gate of time, please don't hesitate. I'm _very_ honored that you have come all this way but your duty holds more precedence over any personal problems I am going through."

The regal looking Sailor Scout nodded to her queen and stood up. She walked over to Serenity and kissed her cheek goodbye, "Don't hesitate to call on me."

She took her staff, walked over to an open space, and tapped the bottom of her rod against the floor three times before disappearing in a swirling cloud of smoke. Serena leaned back in her large chair and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes shot over to Rei, noticing that she was looking down at her twiddling thumbs. She then moved her gaze toward Mina and Ami, the only ones who seemed to not be enraged or uncomfortable at the moment.

"Are we ready to depart?" Serena asked.

"Yes we are," Ami answered, pulling out her mini computer. "We have established in the press that you are going to Earth on request of your husband, but word will not be released until after you approached King Endymion yourself. We have placed a gag order on any recognition of you going to Earth. If anyone mentions it, we'll remove it and fine them."

"Hindering free speech?" Hotaru asked. "Don't you think this is going a little far?"

"I haven't even started," Serena said quietly as she pushed herself up out of the chair. "I want my things on board and I want to leave in half an hour. I expect to land on Earth by mid afternoon."

"Yes ma'am!" all of the scouts replied as they stood up and signaled to her by pounding their fists against their chests.

"You are all dismissed," she declared. Looking over her shoulder, she ordered, "Rini come along and help me get changed."

The two walked quickly to Serena's bedchamber where her daughter immediately sat down in the white painted chair at the vanity desk. The queen went into her closet and pulled on a long sleeve, flowing white silk blouse. She then pulled out a pair of tight leather pants which she had to lay on the bed for in order to slip them over her body. Next she took out a gold embroidered corset to put on over her shirt. She snapped her fingers and Rini jumped up at the sound.

"Sew your momma up," Serena demanded.

She sprinted over to her mother started to string the garment up like she was sewing a doll back together. She tugged and pulled the thing closed as Serena held onto her bedpost. Rini tried to get a glance from her mother, but she refused to look at her in the eye.

"Why are you getting dressed up in this?" she asked.

"This is the one outfit that can terrify your father into submission," she answered. "I wore it once to a masquerade and he had a hard time dealing with it; I was ogled, I was stared at, and I showed my power to everyone that night. A servant tried to steal something from my room and almost snuck off with it when security brought him to me. I dragged him into the middle of the ball and made an example of him."

"Did you beat him up?" Rini asked through gritted teeth as she tugged on the strings.

Serena gasped as she tried to catch her breath, "I gave him a swift kick to the gut, punched him in the eye, and twisted his arm so that it broke in three places. No one since has tried to steal from the palace."

With a final tug of trapping her mother in the corset, she tied it off at the top. Serena walked back into her closet, donned on some black lace gloves, pulled on some stiletto ankle boots and walked out in her final outfit.

"How do I look?"

Rini gulped, "Scary good."

An evil grin spread over her lips and she held her head high as she walked out of the room with her daughter at her heels.

* * *

Darien sat in front of the empty fireplace , staring up at the painting of Neo-Queen Serenity laying across a dark red velvet couch with a black background; she was practically glowing in the painting. He had it made years ago before she gave birth to Rini and decided to have it shipped to the Golden Palace on Earth where he could look at it and admire her beauty from afar. He sat in the large wooden arm chair with one of his legs crossed over the other and the key necklace dangling from his fingertips. There was a knock at the door, some heels clicking, and large breath taken in by the person who entered.

"You wanted to see me, King Endymion?" a soft voice spoke.

He stood up and turned around to find Stella staring back at him with violet eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a tightly wound bun and her body was encased in a black and gold embroidered skirt suit. She looked down at his hand, her features suddenly becoming petrified.

"Why do you have that?" she pointed.

"I found it in my pocket … or rather my _wife_ did," he grimaced. "Did you want me to find it? Is this some kind of joke?"

"I didn't think she would go looking through your things," she said quietly, trying to swallow the lump that had risen in her throat.

"No, instead you wanted one of the servants to find it and have them deliver it my wife, is that it?!" he hollered. "Did you not receive my letters over the last two months? I have been begging you leave me alone!"

"I thought that maybe if you had my necklace, you would—"

"I would fall in love with you?!"

"No, just remember what we had and that it was special," she said simply and quietly, folding her hands behind her back. "I thought I was your outlet from that world."

"You were an addiction that I need to get over," he replied icily.

"But I thought we had something more than just sex … I … I love you Darien."

"This has to stop. I don't love _you_, I love my wife. And I have too much in my life to let you destroy what I have with her."

"What about what _we_ have Darien?!" she exclaimed. "It takes two to tango! I am not the only one who is guilty in this!!"

"She's right," a voice said from behind.

Stella turned around to find the queen flanked with her scouts and her daughter entering the room. She narrowed her gaze at the woman, "So _you_ are the culprit? You're kidding me…. Didn't you think of your post? Your job?"

"I … I um …. Your majesty," she whispered, kneeling down to the floor and bowing her head.

"Get up you wench," Serena growled as she slowly stalked forward like a predator. "I want to take in the woman who thought it would be a good idea to pursue an affair with my husband."

Stella stood up as the queen circled her, her heels clacking like talons against the hardwood floor. She gently removed the single chopstick that was holding her hair in place. Her long black tresses fell down to the middle of her back. Serena's gaze moved toward Darien and then back to Stella.

"The two you have been with other than myself have been dark-haired, violet-eyed women," she said curtly. She looked over at Rei and said, "At least you weren't in a relationship with me when you and Mars were together for that short period of time." She gripped tightly onto Stella's hair and dragged her down to the ground, pulling her half way across the room. Placing her foot on the woman's chest and making a spectacle of her, she screamed, "But I'm married to him!! DO VOWS MEAN NOTHING TO YOU?!!"

"Serena!" Darien snapped. "You've proven your point. Please stop."

"I haven't even begun yet," she said as she felt the rage heat up her body. She gripped Stella's throat with her slender hand and lifted her up in the air above herself so that she could look down at Serena as she said, "You will resign from your post as Prime Minister, you will go into seclusion, and you will never speak to my husband again or so help me I will declare war on your world! Do you understand me?"

Stella nodded as her face started to turn red from lack of breath.

"I'm sorry I can't hear you," she mocked, cupping her ear towards the choking woman.

"Yes, yer … majesty!" she gasped.

"That's better."

And with that she walked across the room still holding the woman high above her; the lace gloves she wore gave wonderful grip. She stopped at a glass coffee table and threw Stella down against it, watching the beautiful glass shatter everywhere around her. It was like everything was in slow motion and her senses were heightened due to all of this anger. She had never felt like this before. She looked up at the scouts as a scream from Stella echoed through the room. Her friends didn't react like she thought; they all seemed to be in agreement with her. Lita was smiling a little bit and Haruka winked at her. Rini and Hotaru were the only ones who expressed any fear or remorse with wide eyes of their hands covering their gaping mouths, but they were the youngest; they would understand later on in life.

Serena began to strut out of the room when she suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder. She gripped tightly on it, feeling that it was Darien's, and then flipped him over her shoulder. The wind was immediately knocked out of him the moment he landed on the floor and he coughed a bit as she placed her foot directly on his wheezing chest. She pressed the tip of her shoe against his chin as she examined him.

"Don't ever touch me without my permission," she said with poison running through her words. She tilted his face to the side by pressing his cheek down a little bit with her foot before stating, "You're lucky I didn't break your back and permanently paralyze you."

And with that she stepped over him and strolled out of the room. There was group of servants around the opposite end of the hallway, all speculating what happened. Serena bid to them, "Get some doctors in there. I believe the Prime Minister tripped. And the King … he's indisposed."

**Up next: Darien has a surprise for Serena. Will he win her back? Is all said and done? Find out next!**

**Please review for me! ^_^**


	5. Chapter 5: Gift

So I've been keeping up reading all the reviews and I've definitely been taking your comments into consideration. ^_^ I've even adjusted future chapters based on what people have been saying. I take your reviews whole heartedly! Thanks so much for them and **keep them coming**!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 5: Gift**

Darien limped toward the bedroom that Serena had taken up in the Golden Palace for the night. He didn't even bother knocking. He barged in like a gust of wind and found all of the scouts on the floor surrounding Serena who was sitting in a chair at her vanity desk, smoking a cigarette. She blew the smoke out and glared at him, a matching gaze with all of the other scouts. Luckily Rini was in her own room so he didn't have to bare the guilt of his own daughter's anger.

"Get out," he ordered the scouts. None of them moved. "GET OUT!!" They still stayed where they were like statues.

"We don't take orders from you," Mina replied curtly. Darien had never heard that tone come from her unless it was directed to someone she despised; he guessed he had turned into one of those people over night.

"Serena … please," he begged, his lips pursing shut.

She waved her hand in air and gestured for them to leave.

As Haruka stood, she asked, "Are you sure?"

She replied with a silent nod and drag of her cigarette. With that, the large group of guardians exited the room and left the couple to duke it out with words.

"What you did today was _ridiculous_," he said once he knew that her friends had left out of ear shot.

"Really? I didn't think it was half as ridiculous as you cheating on me," she said casually.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, dragging a chair from the corner of the room and sitting directly in front of her. "Do you want to divorce me? Is that it?"

"No," she whispered, looking down at the glittering gold thread sewn in her corset. "I want you to feel the pain I feel. I want you to suffer like I have suffered. It hurts to go to bed, surrounded by my friends, our daughter … our daughter. Rini was clutching onto me last night like when she was a baby. It was sad and depressing." She took another drag of the white stick and said through the smoke she blew out, "I don't have an answer as to how this will be solved, but I know that I won't be over this for a while."

"We can't even be apart for more than a day," Darien replied. "I wrote you a note, you came to Earth … we're useless without each other."

"But I'm infuriated at the sight of you," she said calmly as she tilted her head and started to remove her pigtails. "I hate being in love with you right now. It's the worst feeling I have ever had to endure. It's like you're dead to me but you're still living right in front of me and I only recognize a shadow of the man I once knew."

"You're seeing things in such black and white terms," said Darien in a frustrated tone. "What I did was wrong, there is no denying that, but that doesn't make me one-hundred percent awful. Neither one of us is perfect; it's our flaws that connect us together."

Serena stared at him while smoking her cigarette. She looked at the ash that was about to fall and quickly stabbed it out in the crystal tray on her vanity, "I need to quit this awful habit."

"I agree," Darien replied.

She shot up from her chair and shouted, "No! I mean _you_! I need to quit you and this whole scenario between us! What if we weren't meant to be? What if you cheating on me is a sign?"

She started to pace back and forth while Darien stared at her with a confused expression on his face, "What do you mean? Serena, no one else knows you inside and out, can handle your seemingly rare tantrums, your klutz attacks, or has a _child with you_."

"So you get to cheat on me, but I don't get to go out and play the field? That is _such_ a double standard!" she exclaimed.

He could see her teenager-like qualities coming back through her whining tone. He simply shook his head and tried his best to not laugh at her. Despite all they had been through in the last few days, even the last few hours, she still warmed his heart and melted his soul. He wanted nothing more but to have their old ways back, to get to their life back before this whole mishap started. But maybe this event would make them stronger.

"Have you spoken to Rini yet about what happened this afternoon?" he asked.

"Yes," she answered. "She's scared. She doesn't want us to break up, she doesn't want me to start a war with Earth, and she really thought I was going to kill that woman."

"I thought you were too," he said quietly.

"I could have, but she's not worth the energy."

Serena stretched her arms up in the air and then started to run her hands through her glowing white hair. The moon was shinning on her long tresses making them illuminate in the low lit room. Darien loved it when he woke up that heavenly glow. Would he ever get to do that again?

"Can I show you something?" he asked suddenly, tilting his head with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"I've had my fair share of discoveries for the past week, don't you think?" she replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Seriously, I want to show you something," he insisted. "It was just completed few days ago."

She narrowed her eyes at him. Usually she knew everything that happened or was being constructed within the palace walls. She was sent constant updates and Ami would have mentioned if something big was going down, wouldn't she?

"Keeping more secrets from me?" she said, her voice not hiding that she was intrigued.

"It's a surprise, not a secret."

"A surprise is just a happy secret."

"Well do you want to know what it is or not?"

Darien stood up, held his arm out to her and she cautiously took grasp of it. Normally when holding onto his strong arm it was because she was entering a room full of politicians, she was a bit tipsy and couldn't walk straight, or she was hurt. This time the tables had turned and it was because he was limping and he needed help. But being a king and all, his ego had blown up a few sizes and he wasn't about to admit that to her. Serena winced at the thought that his pain was her fault. She stopped him from limping any further and made him stand still. She knelt down to his leg and held her hands around it. A glowing light emerged from her hands and warmth took over the pain that he was experiencing. Serena pulled her hands away after a few more seconds of this and then stood back up to her feet.

"There. Now you can walk without my help," she declared. Darien tried to reach for her hand anyways, but she turned around and slapped it away, "Don't make me regret healing you!"

They walked out of her bedroom and traveled down the large hallways. He felt awkward walking next to his wife and not touching her. She couldn't have felt much comfortable either. She was trying to figure out what to do with her hands at the moment and settled with wrapping them around her upper arms. They made it to the large glass doors leading to the outside gardens. Darien pulled his black and red cloak off of the hanger beside the door and then handed Serena a matching white one specially made for her with the moon crescent emblem on the back of it. She couldn't help but smile at the gesture. She put it on and journeyed outside with him. They traveled passed the rose garden, passed the vegetable garden, and the large green house. It was a pleasant walk with the moon guiding them through each garden specifically tailored to certain types of roses. When they made it the red rose garden, Darien turned around and smiled widely at Serena.

"You have to close your eyes," he said happily.

"I … Darien! No. This is childish," she said.

"Please! It'll make it better," he pleaded.

She finally consented to his request and closed her blue eyes. He covered them with his large hand before guiding her forward with his other hand resting on the small of her back. She swallowed a hard lump that had risen in her throat as her breath and heartbeat picked up the pace a little bit. She didn't know why she was nervous … or maybe this was excitement? She had forgotten that the two emotions coincided with one another.

He dropped his hand from her eyes and made her stop walking. "Okay… Open!"

Serena's ocean colored eyes unlocked and she gasped at the sight in front of her; it was the gazebo that she had hid behind multiple times in their past lives to sneak a peek at him. At their wedding, she had the decorator build a gazebo modeled after the one from her memory, but it wasn't exactly right because no one could get the correct paint or the right framework. Darien on other hand was a stickler for detail and he wouldn't stop until everything was absolutely perfect.

"I had them build it five times," he said. "The first one was too round, the second one was too tall, the third was too short, and the fourth one was too wide. This one turned out perfect."

A rushing wave of memories hit her and made her light headed. Serena stumbled backwards, trying to find her footing and Darien stepped behind her to catch her falling body.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy."

"You don't like it? Maybe I didn't get the right color—"

"No, Darien, you did just … great. It's beautiful. It's perfect. It … it brings back a lot of memories," she stammered.

"I know," he said quietly. "I sometimes come out here and stand by the bench and turn around quickly thinking you're going to appear."

She turned and looked at his glittering eyes with a somber expression over her face, "No. I won't be there. I won't be trying to sneak glances at you while you're thinking by yourself outside the palace and away from the real world. We have come too far to go back to that easy time. I'm too shattered to go back."

Tears started to pool in his grey eyes and he murmured, "I love you Serena."

"It's too late."

And with that she left him to wallow in his misery. She raced through the large garden, her heeled feet clacking every time she ran across cobblestone pavement. Looking down at her shadow beneath her feet, she wondered if he was going to stay there all night. Serena was starting to see that she had caused him just as much pain as she had wanted. They still had a long way to go, but it was a start. She didn't know how much of this she could handle.

Upon entering the palace, she was greeted by the ever beautiful Michiru, still adorned in her Sailor Scout outfit. Sailor Neptune asked, "Are you alright your majesty?"

"Yes I'm fine, why?"

The blue haired goddess of the ocean handed the queen her mirror and she gasped at the sight of it; she had been crying the whole way toward the palace and didn't even notice. She looked up and smiled weakly, "I guess I'm becoming numb to the feeling."

Michiru stepped closer to Serena and over her shoulder she reached out to the mirror and tapped it with her finger. The reflection made small waves and suddenly revealed King Endymion sitting on the steps of the gazebo, crying. His body shook lightly under the shadow of the mini hut he had built. Serena grasped her chest and turned her head away from the image.

"Keep watching," Michiru urged quietly and warmly.

She looked back at the mirror and saw a dark figure approaching him or rather stumbling toward him. Squinting a little bit, she made it out to be a female figure. Sailor Neptune tapped the mirror again with her gloved finger and the image zoomed in on the person walking up to Darien; it was Stella. She had her arm in a sling and a bandage wrapped around her head. Serena couldn't help but smile at this reflection.

"Are you alright?" she asked the king.

He raised his eyesight up and shook his head. She began taking a few steps toward him, but he held his hand out, "Don't take a step further. You need to leave, you need to get your things in order and resign immediately. We need to set up a special election for a new Prime Minister."

"Darien—"

"It's _King Endymion_ to you," he interrupted. "I came to you in a very weak, confusing phase of my life and I shouldn't have. I should have gone through a better process." He stood up and took a step forward as he said, "I want to do anything to get my wife back in my life."

"You're only saying that because you were caught."

"If this was true, would I have tried to get you out of my life two months ago before this affair was discovered?"

"You wouldn't have fallen for me if I hadn't persisted."

"I didn't _fall_ for you," he replied, "I tripped over you, stumbled a bit and now I have gotten my footing back." He ran a hand through his silky black hair and then started to walk out, "If I ever see you again after you resign, I will have revenge. You think my wife was damaging to you? You have no idea what I can do."

He strolled out of the gazebo area and left the distraught woman alone. Serena backed away from the mirror and glanced at Michiru, "Just because he wants to see her gone, doesn't mean I forgive him. He doesn't want to be reminded constantly of the mistake he made with her face around him all the time."

"I'm only showing you what transpired," the turquoise haired woman replied with a regal tone. "I don't expect you to forgive and forget so easily." She strung her arm through the queen's and guided her back to her room down the long hallway. "In fact I don't expect you to forget ever. I expect this moment to make you stronger. I hope that you two will make it through this, but it will take time."

Serena pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and asked cautiously, "Have you and Haruka ever been through something like this?"

She nodded solemnly and looked forward as she explained, "After the war between Mars and my home planet, I … I wrecked havoc on our relationship. She has always been the fast-paced, stubborn one in our long-lasting connection and I was the level-headed, cool, calm and collected one. But after that terrible time and after seeing the pain I inflicted on Sailor Mars … I became recluse, I was picking fights with Haruka, I wouldn't speak to her about my troubles, and I often slept in a separate bedroom. She stayed where she was at the whole time, supported me in my horrendously out of line moment. When I was ready to come back to the proverbial bed, she was there, patting the empty spot she had been sleeping next to for close to a year. It was the first time she had ever been the composed one and I had been the radical, out of control person."

"But how did you get through it?"

"Time. We spoke often about our troubles. Well, she spoke and I yelled and then I would storm out of the room," she said. "I had to heal; I had to separate myself a little bit. I thought Haruka was suffocating me, but she was just waiting patiently for me to open up. When I did finally, she expressed that she had gone through some of the same feelings, even almost drifted off to another lover, but resisted the temptation as best as she could. I believe our conversation lasted for a good twelve hours. I cried, laughed, screamed, yelled, and all the while, she sat beside me. That's what helped."

The two women stopped at the bedroom door and turned to one another face to face. Michiru swiped a white strand out of Serenity's face and said, "You need to express yourself, you need to lash out, you need to do all of this with him there. You will be the wrecking ball and he should be the strong standing brick wall."

Queen Serenity nodded and hugged her friend, "Thank you."

Sailor Neptune patted her head gently and asked, "Do you want us to spend the night with you?"

She pulled away and placed her hand on the door, "No. Tonight I need to sleep on my own. I think I need to miss him."

"It's a start," Michiru smiled. She leaned over and kissed the crescent marking on her forehead, "Goodnight my queen. I'll see you in the morning."

The two women parted ways and went to bed. Once Serena was dressed and washed up, she climbed into her large bed with Luna at her side. She lied down on her back, staring up at the canopy ceiling, feeling rather restless. She flipped over onto her side and looked at the empty space next to her where she would normally find her husband. She sat up a little bit and kissed the pillow where his head should have been. Her mind was a tangled web of what to do, but Michiru's ideas and comments swirled in and out of her head. She did need to lash out; her time to express herself was now. When she would return to the proverbial marriage bed, she didn't know.

* * *

**And that's it for now! Lemme know what you think!**

**Next in Chapter 6: Serena ends up in the hospital!**


	6. Chapter 6: Surprise

Hey all!! So upon reading your reviews here are a couple of notes:

Darien does get to explain himself, but it'll take a while longer until he does, so please be patient.

This is rated M for future chapters which include language, violence, and adult content.

This is a very complicated issue and many people have different responses to it so I won't be able to do everything that people want, but I'll do the best to show the multiple sides of this topic of cheating. ^_^

So all, I hope you enjoy this next chapter! I'll update as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own an Sailor Moon Characters

**Chapter 6: Surprise**

With her mind still on overload from the day before, Serenity got out of bed, got showered, dressed, and went to breakfast. She entered the Fire Room – as it was titled –that Sailor Mars had designed herself and modeled it after her temple a little bit. Serena removed her shoes and donned on some slippers before walking across the glossy hard wood floor. She found all of the Sailor Scouts – minus Sailor Pluto – sitting around a large platter of breakfast foods, tea, coffee, and orange juice. They were all casually dressed for the morning meal, knowing that they didn't have to be completely formal in front of their queen at all times; in fact she demanded that they still be relaxed around her. She scanned the group and found that her pink-haired daughter was missing.

"Where's the princess?"

"When we went to go get her, she said she had received an invitation to have breakfast with her father," Ami answered.

"Do you want me to bring her here?" Rei asked who was dressed in her favorite red and white plaid dress that she only wore on certain occasions.

As Serena sat down on the floor pillow at the head of the display of food, she shook her head, "No, don't disturb them. She has the right to spend time with King Endymion." Reaching across to grab a muffin, she asked, "What's on the agenda for today?"

"Sifting through the candidates for a new Prime Minister," Hotaru quipped as she stabbed at her fruit bowl.

"Preparation for the press meeting about Stella's resignation tomorrow," Mina said in between bites of her toast.

"And we have received word that King Endymion would like to have a scheduled meeting with you sometime before the press conference tomorrow so that you're both on the same page," Michiru announced.

The group stopped eating, stopped clanking utensils and all directed their attention to Serena who said with a half full mouth of muffin, "Bring him to the preparation meeting. We obviously need to work together on what we're going to say and if we're going to mention this whole affair to the universe."

Lita's jaw dropped, "You're fine with this?"

Serenity's brow furrowed as she said with slight indignation, "I can't stop my political life just because my personal life is in shambles. The universe keeps on spinning and I have to keep moving along with it."

All of the Sailor Scouts, except for Sailor Neptune, wondered where this level-headed queen came from. Michiru merely exchanged an all-knowing glance with Serenity before digging into her egg whites and basil breakfast.

"Thank you for having breakfast with me dear," Darien smiled as he poured his daughter some tea.

She sat across from her father on a couch with a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal warming her lap. She had been weary of accepting his invitation, but she came to the conclusion that he deserved a chance just as much as her mother did. He may have screwed up royally – pun intended – but he was still her father and she wanted to get his complete side of the story.

"So she is going to resign?" Rini asked before shoving a spoonful of oatmeal in her mouth.

"That seems to be the plan. I wanted to avoid this months ago. I wrote her countless times trying to get her to stop with this awful idea of an affair," he stated while sipping his coffee. "She obviously didn't listen."

"Does Mom know this?"

"Yes, she does."

"And you've admitted that this was a huge mistake right?"

"Many times, Rini," he replied with an arched eyebrow. Getting the third degree from a teenager was something he hadn't had the "privilege" of experiencing and he didn't like it all.

"So you two can get back together, right?"

That's what the rising questions were leading up to. He smiled at his naïve little girl and shook his head slowly, "It's not that easy. Your mother has to forgive me first."

"But everything is being fixed."

"Nothing is 'fixed'. It's like when you break a plate," he started to explain, picking up a small one as a demonstration and breaking it in two pieces by hand. He put the pieces back together and said, "There is still a crack visible and even some shards missing. The memory of the damage will always be there. Get it?"

She nodded her pink haired head and continued to eat her oatmeal. The two ate in an awkward silence until quick-paced footsteps from down the hall disrupted the air. Darien's senses perked up as a servant barged into the room.

"Your majesty!" he breathed heavily and bowed down to the ground. "The queen has been taken to the hospital! She requests that you and your daughter follow her with the scouts."

Darien stood up quickly and looked down at Rini. She gathered her composure and reached for his hand which he tightly grasped onto. His palm was sweaty from the nervousness. The two breezed out of the room with the servant guiding them to the large car awaiting for them at the front. When they got in, Darien asked the scouts who were already seated in the car, "What happened?"

"She was eating breakfast when she felt something on the back of her dress," Mina explained. "She got up and there was blood coming from her. She suddenly fainted and we called an ambulance."

"She's bleeding?" he asked slowly. "Is she … she can't be … is she?"

"Is she what? Is she what?!" Rini begged, desperation in her voice as tears welled up in her eyes. "What is wrong with Mama?!"

Hotaru climbed to the back of the limo and sat next to the princess. She wrapped her arms around Rini and nuzzled her cheek against the top of her head. The presence of this sudden affection showed by the Scout of Silence completely distracted everyone from the distressing moment. Sailor Saturn quietly relaxed Rini by rocking her back and forth and using a bit of her powers; if there was one thing she had learned over the years of battling and getting control of her energy, it was that she could use it to silence even the most hysterical of people just with a little touch.

After a few more minutes of tense quiet, the car came to a halt and the doors were opened up immediately. Darien bolted out of the limo and sprinted inside. He was met with a doctor who quickly guided him to the quarters his wife was in. He paused for a moment when hit with the image of Serena lying down in the awfully lit room. Her face was a little pale, almost matching the color of her hair, under the florescent light. She looked over at him and narrowed her gaze.

"I'm pregnant," she growled in a low voice as she smoothed out the blanket covering her stomach. "I am _fucking_ pregnant."

Darien stepped closer to her as the scouts trickled in slowly. He cautiously took her hand which she didn't remove. He laced his fingers through hers and studied her expression. She was fuming. This was going to put a damper on a lot of things for her physically, mentally, and emotionally.

"I can't have a baby!" she exclaimed, punching the mattress with her free hand and kicking her feet under the tight sheets. "I don't have the time to have another child!"  
"Take it as a good thing," Rei suggested. "Maybe this can help you two."

"A baby doesn't solve problems Rei," Serena mumbled. "If anything it causes more troubles." She shot a look over at Rini and said, "But not you darling. You were a blessing."

"A baby is a lot of work, I understand," she responded. "I'm just glad you're alright, Momma."

"Rini had a mini freak out in the car ride over," Lita smiled, draping an arm over the princess's shoulder.

"I want to explode! God dammit!" Serena snarled. She looked over at Ami and asked, "Can I leave? I don't like being in hospitals and it just reminds me of my condition."

"I'll find out for you," she replied. Her blue eyes looked at the rest of the scouts, "We should _all_ go find out and leave the family with some privacy."

The rest of them shuffled out hesitantly, following Ami's orders. Once they were gone and the door was shut behind them, Serena patted the spot next to herself for Rini to lie down on the bed beside her. The young girl curled up next to her mother and held her tight. Her knee length silk skirt sprawled out over them. Serena ran her hand over her cotton button down shirt, kissing her daughter's head while hugging her tight. She tugged on Darien's hand and gestured for him to get in the bed too. He climbed over the railing and sat next to his wife. The queen took his arm and made him hold her. He missed this. Maybe the new child would start a whole new life for them after all.

"Tell me about the day I was born," Rini requested in a whisper.

A smile parted Serena's pink lips, "It was …crazy. Your father and I were just moving into the palace—"

"And your mother was being stubborn and wouldn't stay off her feet," Darien interrupted.

Ignoring him, she continued, "I was walking up the entrance steps carrying a box of clothes when suddenly I felt water trickle down my leg. I didn't expect you to come so soon. You were impatient even in the womb. So your father scrambled around the palace trying to get all of the things ready for our trip to the hospital. We had a bag planned out before in our old house, but since we were in the midst of moving, we had dispersed everything. I sat on the steps for about ten minutes waiting for him to come out with a bursting duffle bag in grasp."

"Didn't you guys have servants to do all this?" she asked.

"Rini, you came so early that we hadn't gotten around to hiring help," Darien answered.

"What about the scouts?"

"This was before we acquired peace, remember? They still had problems of their own to deal with. They eventually came and greeted you when you were born though," Serena winked. "So when we finally arrived to the hospital, I was starting to get contractions. You were a painful little thing! I was huffing and puffing and feeling like I was going to die! I think your dad thought I was too. He was hysterical."

"You were screaming and yelling at me!" he exclaimed.

"It was technically your fault I was pregnant," she shrugged.

Rini smiled at the sight of her parents bickering happily. They seemed to be alright now. Maybe if she kept them reminiscing about the good times, they wouldn't remember the bad.

"Anyways, I was in labor with you for a solid twenty-one hours. You were troublesome, but it was nothing I couldn't handle," she grinned. "I was so pleased the moment I held you my arms."

"I was scared to touch you when your mother offered you to me," Darien smiled.

"He thought he would break you," Serena said as she rolled her eyes.

"You were so tiny!"

Serena let out a large breath and patted her flat belly that she had for now, "It was a long eight months with you, but it was all worth it in the end." She turned and looked at her daughter in eyes, "Look at the beautiful, strong princess that has transpired from all that chaos."

Rini looked down at her mother's abdomen and asked curiously, "When will you start to show?"

"About 4 months I believe," she thought out loud.

"I thought you could only have one child though," Rini mused.

"The Royal Lunar Queens can only have one daughter … never said anything about a son."

"So it's a boy for sure?"

"We won't know until they come to greet us in about 9 months."

There was a knock at the door and Ami walked in with the announcement that they could leave any time the queen felt ready. Rini and Darien climbed out of her bed and walked out of the room to let her get changed. As they waited outside in the hallway, the scouts gave them questioning expressions.

"Well she's going to have it," Darien shrugged. "But we really shouldn't let it hinder any plans we have today."

"Do we mention this to the press?" Hotaru asked.

"No, not yet. It's too early," Mina answered.

A few minutes later, Serena exited the room in a black strapless dress and gold belt with a pair of alligator ballet flats. She placed her hand on her hip and asked, "Who thought that _this_ would be wise for me to wear?"

"We had no time to get here!" Mina said with a hurt tone in her voice.

"Right… Okay, well can we leave please?"

They all grinned while Mina blushed in slight embarrassment upon exiting the hospital.

**Up next: Serena gets advice from an outside source**


	7. Chapter 7: Sympathy

Thanks everyone for reviewing! In response to some comments about a villain, there will be some deeper stuff going on in the next few chapters; more action and more adventure. Just be a bit patient. Gotta build it all up!! ^_~

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 7: Sympathy**

Darien looked up from the press release statement that Ami had drafted over. Serena still was god-awful at grammar so she had Ami write all of her speeches and statements. It was equally balanced with eloquence and power, describing that Stella was not fit to complete her term as Prime Minister. It briefly explained that she had been guilty of having an affair with King Endymion and that currently the royal couple was dealing with their marital issues quietly. It begged that the press leave their personal matters alone and respect their privacy.

"It's good," he said looking across the room at Ami who was reading a book quietly in front of the fire while waiting for him to finish going over it. She smiled in response, glad that he thought so. She stood up from the couch she was sitting on and walked across the room to retrieve the piece of paper from him. "I'm very pleased with how you handled everything. Thank you for not making me out to be a horrible villain."

"It was easy because you're _not_ a 'horrible villain'," she replied. "I understand that what you're going through is very difficult, but if I have to choose sides, it will be Serena's."

"I know," he answered, leaning back in his chair. "She's lucky to have all of you."

"How do you do it? Serena has all of us around her, but you …"

"Have no one?" he finished for her. "I think that's why I strayed away toward Stella. She was the only other person besides Serena that I had developed a connection with. It was easy to slip into the affair when I don't have anyone other than Serena to rely on." His eyes hardened a little bit, "If I didn't have her, I would be leading a very lonely life."

Amy began to feel sympathy for him. Before Serena stumbled into her life, she had nothing but her studies and reading. Then they had their exciting lives and adventures and dangerous battles as Sailor Scouts. Each and every one of them were blessed to have met her.

A knock at the door interrupted the intimate moment between the two of them and Serena stuck her head in the door. Darien grinned, "Speak of the devil."

She walked completely inside the room and looked at Ami, "Is the statement ready to be delivered to the press? They sent a messenger."

"Yes it is. I was having King Endymion look over it," she answered.

"Good. Would you mind leaving me and the king alone? I have some business to discuss with him."

Ami bowed to her queen and quickly exited the room. Serena shut the door and walked over to the fire. She had changed out of that stupid cocktail dress Mina had practically trapped her with at the hospital and donned on a white organza dress with a matching white pashmina draped over her shoulders. She lowered herself down to the floor and eventually laid down completely on the ground. Her hands drifted down to her stomach and she suddenly started to cry.

"I can't do it Darien," she said, her glassy eyes staring at the fire in front of her. "I can't do it. I can't bring a child into this world right now."

He got up from his chair and walked over to where she was. He laid down behind her and wrapped his arm around her stomach, pulling her toward his body.

"I had you lay with me today in the hospital because Rini was with us," she said, closing her eyes, "but I still don't want you touching me without my permission. Please let go of me."

He pulled away and sat up from the floor, "What do you want from me? Seriously Serena, this is getting ridiculous."

"What is?!" she shouted as she up and glared at him. "I am still so angry at you! I won't get over it in two days! I won't get over it in two months! I won't get over it when this child comes!"

"So what am I supposed to do?!" he yelled back. "I can't correct what I did! I can't fix it! What more do you want?!"

She got up and walked passed him, "If you have to ask, you'll never know."

Serena left the room and quietly walked around the palace halls by herself. She was thankful for all of the open space and hiding places in this Earth home; otherwise she would never have peace and quiet. The cold marble floor beneath her bare feet made shivers shoot up her spine. She wondered if it was the feeling of the ground beneath her or something else that caused that sudden chill. She stopped in her tracks and turned around to find Hotaru following her. The Scout of Silence certainly had a way of sneaking up people.

"You know this argument doesn't just affect you," she said. "Rini will be scarred if you guys don't keep your voices down."

"I don't know how to solve this problem," Serena responded. "I can't just forgive him for months of deception."

"But you can't go on fighting for years."

"Michiru thinks I need to express myself and just let all of my emotions out."

"That was her way of letting things go; she doesn't have a child to worry about."

"You're right."

"Think of what's best for your current child and your future one."

For being such a young woman, she certainly had plenty of words of wisdom to bestow upon Serena. She watched as the scout walked away in the other direction, her footsteps not making a single sound. She wished she could talk to someone who had children and help her figure out what the best route was. All of her scouts had basically stayed single or barren because of the idea of protecting the whole universe and second universe (being the child) was too much to handle. She couldn't go and ask the scouts for help; all of them would think about it in single terms and she wasn't single.

"Maybe it's time to give mother a visit," she whispered to herself.

The next day Serena and the four inner scouts traveled to her old neighborhood just on the outskirts of the Golden Kingdom, finding it much different. The buildings were taller, the houses were remolded, and the roads were better. All of the houses looked different, so when she rolled up to the address her mother gave her a while back, she was surprised that it still somewhat looked the same. The only difference was that there was another floor built on top, a new tree in the front yard, and they had remodeled the wrap around deck.

She smiled at the sight of it and got out of the limo with her friends flanking her. Skipping up the pavement toward the porch she was washed over with memories of tripping on her way out, being late for school every single morning and even dreading the porch steps when she had a bad test grade. Serena turned around and looked at her scouts who were in civilian clothing so's not to attract attention, but it was a little late for that; photographers were already taking pictures and a small crowd was gathering to get a glimpse of the Queen.

"Do I look okay?" she asked them. "I won't scare her will I?"

They all shook their heads no at her. She was wearing a simple white cap sleeve t-shirt with a black high waist skirt with silver buttons on either side at the top. She smoothed her skirt out and then ventured up the steps to the porch. She rang the doorbell and heard shuffling in kitchen.

"Coming! Coming!"

Her heart beat quickened as the door was opened up swiftly. Serena took a deep breath and smiled widely at her mother who still hadn't changed a bit since she moved to the moon palace in Crystal Tokyo.

"Hi Mom," she beamed.

"Serena?!" she gasped.

Her mother opened the screen door and embraced her daughter excitedly. She hadn't been able to see her baby girl in years. Serena had instructed her to stay on Earth and that she would visit her when she had time, but being busy was one of her greatest traits these days.

"Come in! Come in!" she ushered with teary eyes. Serena's friends stood on the porch and looked at her with smiling eyes. She knitted her eyebrows together with confusion and asked, "These are your scouts, right?"

"Yes," Serena answered over her shoulder as she took her shoes off at the door.

"Well you are all welcome inside as well!"

They entered cautiously, took their shoes off and followed the two women into the living room. The scouts sat down on the large, worn in blue couch while Serena and her mother took the two single chairs in the room.

"Now do I call you Serena or Serenity? Or Queen Serenity?"

"You can always call me Serena. Queen Serenity was my mother," she replied. She shook her head at the look of confusion on her mortal mother's face, "I mean my past mother. It's a long story. Just know that I'm technically known as Neo-Queen Serenity, but please stick with Serena."

"Well, _Serena_, what brings you here? And unannounced I might add…"

"I know, I'm sorry for not calling or sending a messenger, but I've been having difficulty with something lately and I don't know what to do about it," she explained.

"I heard about the Prime Minister being replaced. Is it true that Dar – er I mean King Endymion had an affair with her?"

"Yes and that's what I'm struggling with. Mom," she said, trying to choke back the tears, "what am I supposed to do? I feel like if this were anyone else I would tell them to break up with him—"

"Or break something off of him," Lita quipped angrily.

"But I love him too much to do that. We've been through multiple lifetimes of hardships together, never faltering and we have a daughter together!"

"And you're about to have another one, aren't you?" her mom asked.

Serena tilted her head in amazement, "How did you know? It's only been a day since I found out."

"Mother's intuition," she answered.

"Well do you have any intuition as to what to do in my situation? As much as I love my scouts," she tossed them a meaningful glance, "they don't understand what it's like being a parent. If I hurt him, I'm hurting my daughter as well. But I want him to suffer like I have! I want him to understand the pain I've been through lately sleeping alone, but wanting to kick him out of bed if he sleeps next to me. I miss his touch, but don't want him to be near me because the thought of that woman makes my stomach churn."

Clasping her hand over her daughter's, she said, "In the end, you have to do what is best for you. Your child is a teenager, right?" Serena nodded. "She is going through her independent phase right now. She will be trying to find every excuse possible to not be around you in the years to come. You will be alone soon and then it won't matter what happens. Do you ever remember your father and me arguing?" She shook her head. "That's because you were out at school, at the arcade, or …"

"Saving the world," Serena smiled as she sniffed a little, letting the tears fall down her face.

"My poor baby," her mother cooed as she grabbed for a box of tissues. "Being queen isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh? I told you so." Serena laughed at the irony of it.

"I thought that once I became Neo-Queen Serenity I would have all the answers right in front of me."

"But there's a dilemma when you have all sorts of people in your life; they make the world so much more complicated."

"So what do you suggest I do?"

"You love him." She nodded furiously. "And you can't imagine a life without him?" She nodded again. "Take a break. Be apart for a while and see what happens. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. Don't contact each other unless absolutely necessary. If he tries to write to you, make sure the scouts receive the letters so that you aren't tempted to write back. I think you'll discover the feeling of what it means to have him out of your life if you do this. Bring him back when you truly can't bare it anymore, whenever that moment is. It could be days, weeks, years, even decades before he returns, but you'll know when the time is right." She cupped Serena's damp face, "And always know that you can come here for refuge, alright?" Her daughter nodded and she pulled her into a hug, rocking her back and forth like a baby. "Now are you ladies hungry? I was just about to make lunch."

"Oh yes please!" Serena exclaimed, practically jumping out of her mother's arms.

"I see that some things haven't changed."

The scouts laughed at the comment and nodded in agreement.

**Next up: Serenity preps for a ball at the palace.**


	8. Chapter 8: Preparations

Hey all! This chapter is the final step to all of the chaos that will ensue. ^_^ I guarantee that your patience will be rewarded soon, but one has to build these things up!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 8: Preparations**

"Do you need help with anything?" Darien asked, leaning against the doorframe of Rini's room.

"No, I'm fine," she replied snidely.

Swiping his hair out of his eyes, he asked "You'll call me when you get home, right?"

His daughter nodded and finished zipping up her bag.

"And remember, your mother is pregnant. This means no freaking out, no fighting, no yelling, and no snapping at her. She can't take anymore anxiety than what she has right now."

"Yeah, you kinda gave her enough stress to deal with, huh?"

Darien ignored the comment his snappy little teenager made. She stepped back and looked around the room, wondering if she had forgotten anything. After going through the list in her head, she turned to her father and shrugged. He walked forward and embraced her tightly, swaying a bit as he did while she stayed as stiff as possible in his arms. He had never been away from his little girl since she had been back from the past for more than a month maybe. This was going to be a very lonely time apart….very lonely indeed.

"Rini, are you ready?" the queen asked from behind.

The father-daughter duo let go of one another and she walked toward her mother. Serena pointed out the door, gesturing that she leave her parents alone, "The servants will take your things on board. Go meet with Hotaru downstairs."

Once they were left to themselves, Darien did his best to not look at his wife; he didn't know that he could handle saying goodbye. She reached out and gripped onto his chin, making him look at her right in her deep blue eyes. He seemed so distant and so depressed to see his family leave. At least the new elections and nominations of the new Prime Minister would keep him busy for a few weeks.

"Remember, no calling me, no writing to me, no coming to Crystal Tokyo unless on strict Earth business and you need to clear it with Lita first. I don't want to see you unless I have to or I'm ready to get back together which who knows how long that'll take," she went over.

"I'm still allowed to speak to Rini and the scouts though, right?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, you are. I'll get full reports from Ami and Mina on the nominees for Prime Minister. We'll take things slow…very slow."

Darien nodded as some servants walked in and started to take Rini's things away. He sighed and looked at Serena; she showed no emotion on her face whatsoever. She tilted her head and stepped forward. Her arms wrapped around Darien's waist and she buried her face into his shirt, taking in the sweet smell of sandalwood, mint, and roses. She would never admit that she would miss him.

Wrapping his arms around her in response, he said, "I love you very much. _Very_ much. If this is what it takes in order for us to be together, then I'll do it. I'm sorry I broke your heart. I was selfish only thinking about myself."

She pulled her face away from his chest and looked up at him, "It's my turn to be selfish."

"Yes, yes it is," he murmured. "May I kiss you goodbye or is that too much?"

"A goodbye kiss is never too much."

He leaned over and pulled her up toward him, closing the gap between their lips slowly. She felt her heart beat faster like a hummingbird flapping its wings; this was how she felt when they first kissed. All she could hear was her heart thumping, her arteries pumping blood through her veins. His lips felt soft against hers and his hands were warm and comforting. She wished she could just revel in this moment, but then she was reminded of the other woman who also must've felt this, who also must have wanted more. Before falling too deeply into the moment, she pulled back and pushed him away a little with her hand. Serena pursed her lips, trying to keep the taste of him in her mouth for as long as possible even though she wanted nothing more but to throw up.

"Goodbye Endymion."

"Goodbye Serena."

His heart sank into his stomach as he watched his wife depart from him. Would this be the last time he ever saw her? Could he really just let her go like this? Yes. Darien needed to have her come back to him when she was ready.

Three Months Later…

Serena quickly walked through the palace halls with a clipboard in her hand and directed where the large vases of flowers were supposed to go, asking when the caterers were supposed to arrive, and begged for someone to get her seamstress to meet with her as soon as possible. The palace was in a flurry for that night they were going to have a giant ball for the Prime Minister candidates. This was a setting in which the scouts and the queen could determine who would be well suited for the job. Although they really couldn't do anything at this time since the election was in two weeks, they could at least see what their personalities were like.

"Mom! Mommy! Momma! _Mom_!"

Rolling her eyes at the annoying cries from behind, she turned around to find Rini running toward her. She placed a hand on her hip as her daughter leaned over a bit, trying to catch her breath.

"You haven't been doing your training lately, have you?"

Gasping for air like a fish out of water, she asked in between her huffs and puffs, "What? Where would you get that idea?"

"Rini, you scurried across the palace, not the whole planet; if you had been keeping up with your training, you wouldn't be sounding this."

"Mom … Mom, I have a question," she responded, completely ignoring her mother's comment.

"Yes?"

"Is Dad coming to the ball tonight?"

Serena turned around swiftly and looked back at her clipboard, "Yes. Why?"

"I was just wondering."

"Well go wonder somewhere else dear. I have to finish up with these last minute arrangements, see how the scouts are doing, and then get changed for the press before the ceremony starts."

She shooed her daughter away before she could ask anymore insinuating questions and continued on her way. Through the months, she had her wish granted; she hadn't heard a word from Darien or about him. And although this is what she wanted, Serena wasn't happy in the slightest bit. She still went to bed crying every night, sometimes asking the scouts to sleep in bed with her like a security blanket. Sometimes her eyes played tricks on her and she thought she saw him out of the corner of her eye, but it turned out that she was just imagining things.

Now with this ball approaching, she wondered if she was going to be expected to dance with him, sit with him, talk to him? It was no contact at first and now suddenly she had to have a rushing wave of it? It was a bit much. Thus why she was having a meeting with Darien before they entered the ball; she needed to see where he stood and needed to figure things out together so that they were on the same page. The whole universe knew that they were taking some time apart, but it didn't mean they had to look like that at a royal function.

"Your majesty!" another voice exclaimed from behind.

Serena rolled her eyes and groaned as she turned around to a copper-haired man running after her. She blushed suddenly at her rude conduct, discovering that it was Thomas Hayward, one of the candidates up for Prime Minister of Earth. He had been consistent in keeping contact with her, sending her his ideas and policies on what he would do differently to bring the continents of Earth together. He reassured her immediately that he wouldn't let his personal life get in the way of things and he even made a joke about it.

Once he was in front of her completely, he held out a long, black velvet box for her.

"Are you trying to bribe me?" she grinned.

"Maybe," he chuckled. "This is a thank you for dealing with all of my boyish charm and annoying letters personally like you have been."

"It was my pleasure," she replied as she opened up the box. It was diamond tennis bracelet. Her face went blank and she snapped it closed; it was too much of a statement and she didn't know that she liked it. "No I can't take this. Here." She shoved it back into his possession.

"But your majesty—"

"Thomas, you're sweet, very much so, but if word got out that I received an expensive gift like that from you, I wouldn't be trusted in my post any longer," she explained. "Please return it."

He bowed to her and murmured like a hurt little puppy, "As you wish."

"Thank you for the gesture," she replied.

He smiled weakly, spun around on his heel, and strolled out of the palace. He clearly was a rookie to the world of politics and how things worked out. She knew that he had the best intentions since she was sure that he had never encountered a fellow politician who took things so personally like she did. Really, Serena never did respond to things like this often; in fact, she only did it when she really approved of the person. Thomas was adorable, genuine, and a down right sweetheart who had been as charming as an apple pie to her. She shook her head at the thought that maybe she could have a little school girl crush on him.

'_I'm no longer a school girl_,' she reminded herself. '_I'm a queen carrying a baby inside me and the whole universe on my shoulders._'

The hours flew by a lot faster than she had expected and soon enough Serena was in her room with her scouts and a tailor working on her royal dress for the ball. She winced when looking at her image in the mirror; it was an odd thing for her to see herself like this. Being formal had been turned into a normal thing for her, but she still thought of herself as that school girl from her past, waking up late to school everyday and not having a drop of grace in her figure.

And her _figure_ … well she couldn't help but wonder if she was showing yet. The paranoia was settling in her mind easily and without her husband around her, it made it more and more difficult to deal with the idea of having a baby. When they first had Rini, she went through a phase during her pregnancy where she was constantly complaining about how fat she was and Darien reassured her with his arms wrapped around her, a smile placed on his lips, and kisses given to her all the time. Her heart ached as she remembered those moments.

"Really? Does this look alright?" she asked, running her hands along the smooth fabric.

"Serena, this is your formal dress, of course you look gorgeous in it," Rei replied.

"It's still difficult for me to see myself in something this beautiful," she whispered as she dragged a fingertip across the pearl strewn bodice.

"Wow," a voice said from the front door.

The scouts turned to find Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru entering the room. Serena blushed as they did and she waved them further into her bedchamber. They were wearing their own formal princess dresses, in their appropriate colors. Haruka crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the queen up and down, whistling at the sight in front of her making Serena's whole body turn red with awkwardness. Michiru lightly hit her partner, giggling and telling her to stop embarrassing the queen.

"Good evening your majesty," Hotaru smiled.

"Good evening you three. I'm glad you could make it," she replied cheerfully.

"Where's the big bad wolf?" Haruka asked as she wrapped her arm around Michiru's waist.

"A little late," Darien's voice cued in from the door.

Serenity swallowed hard as she looked up and found him wearing a white and silver tuxedo with his white gloves and light lavender cape strung across his chest with gold chains and rubies as well as a cane in his hand that had a platinum skull at the top with matching ruby eyes embedded in it. Serena squinted at the button down shirt he was wearing; it couldn't be, could it? She made the seamstress stop sewing whatever details she had left and hopped off of the ottoman she was standing on. Sprinting to his closet, she burst open into the room to find that his Tuxedo Mask shirt had been removed from the premises.

"I had a servant get it back while you away from the room," he quipped. "You're not the only one who has tricks around here."

She tried to not let it show, but Darien could see her silently throwing a tantrum behind her bright blue eyes. She stomped back over to the pedestal and raised her arms in the air as the tailor continued to work with her.

"Scouts, could you please exit the room?" she asked, her eyes glued to the mirror in front of her. She turned to the seamstress and asked, "Are we almost done here?"

"Just one or two more stitches your majesty."

After a full minute of a staring match with her husband, the woman was finished and she scuffled out of the room, trying to follow the rest of the women. The door slammed shut and Serena hopped down from the footstool. She walked over to the edge of the bed, plopped down and grabbed her shoes, starting to slip them onto her feet. Darien knelt down on one knee in front of her and started to instinctively buckle her feet into the white silk shoes. She had a specific way of having her shoes put on; one ankle was larger than the other so one buckle needed to be placed in the third hole and the other one had to be in the second hole so her circulation wasn't cut off. After living with her for decades upon decades, he had learned most, if not all, of her little quirks.

"So how are we going to handle tonight?" he asked as he finished his work with her right foot.

As he tapped her thigh for her to lift her other foot, she replied, "We'll go to the press conference together of course. We'll greet the candidates together as they're announced into the ball—"

"You can do that by yourself if you wish," he said as he pushed her foot into the shoe and started to buckle it. "I've met them all. I played tennis with Kenji, had tea with Franz, and dined on two separate occasions with Brown and Hayward."

"Why didn't you tell me you did that?" she asked, removing her foot from his grasp when he was finished.

"I communicated with the scouts and I kept myself from you as you had specifically demanded. It's not my fault that they didn't convey this information to you," he shrugged as he got back up to his feet.

She waved her anger away with a swish of her hand in front of her face as though it were a pesky fly and continued, "Anyway, I'll greet them myself along with the scouts then. You'll sit with me at the royal table, I assume?"

"Your scouts have created the option of seating me at my own private Earth table in the center of room where all of my advisors and cabinet members are sitting or I could sit alongside you; whichever you prefer," he announced.

"Why doesn't any information get sent to me? I had no idea about this!"

"Well now that you do, where would you like to me to sit?"

"Sit with your members of Earth. I don't want to be distracted by you when I'm meeting with the nominees," she huffed as she stalked off to the bathroom to complete her make-up.

"Don't get all pissed off because your scouts did their job," he said after her as he strolled lazily to the entrance of her large washroom. "I was told that nothing was going to get back to you unless it was a life or death matter."

She stubbornly kept her lips shut as she stabbed her earrings into her earlobes. She didn't know how much she really liked being in the dark of things. When they were together, they never had to figure out stupid stuff like this; it was just known that he would be by her side when greeting guests, he would sit next to her at dinner, and he would always be right behind her when she needed him. When did things go so terribly wrong?

"Are you ready to leave?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"No, I'm not!" she snapped. "Please go wait with the scouts. I'll be out in a minute."

He left her alone and once she heard the door click behind him, she shouted in frustration. She clenched her fists tightly until her nails dug in so deeply that her hands started to bleed. Feeling the rapid rage and hopelessness inside her, she suddenly burst out and punched her reflection, letting the shards of the mirror shatter everywhere and even stick into her knuckles. She tried to catch her breath as she leaned over the glass covered countertop, groaning in despair.

"Guess I'm wearing gloves tonight," she murmured to herself as she picked the thick flakes of mirror out of her skin.

**Up next: ****The Ball!**** Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9: Pandemonium

This is _by far_ my favorite chapter! I find it really exciting and I hope you all do too!

Warning: This chapter is _extremely_ violent.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 9: Pandemonium**

The queen sat at the high table with her scouts and daughter on either side of her. She was scanning the sea of people, most of them eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and smiling. She did her best to fake a good attitude, but her mind was on her distant husband; physically and mentally. He was a good fifteen feet or so away from her at the center of all the gallivanting and mingling with high secretaries from all across the universe and introducing himself to new people he had never met. A genuine smile was on his face the whole night. Standing in the middle of a group of politicians, he caught her eye and raised his glass to her. She blinked in shock and responded by doing the same to him and noticed that her champagne flute was empty already. Although her tolerance for alcohol had gone up since this whole debacle, she had to keep her limit to two small drinks maximum, if that, at this event while pregnant. She still hadn't announced it to the press yet that she was with child, but it would come out sooner or later.

"Excuse me your majesty."

She turned around to find the tall, dashing young man who was also known by the name Thomas Hayward. He had a glass of wine in one hand and a glass of sparkling water in the other. He handed her the class of bubbling water and smiled her.

"I saw your drink was empty but I didn't want to be presumptuous and give you more alcohol," he said.

She took the glass with a smile on her face, "See? This is more appropriate than a tennis bracelet."

"Would you do me the honor your majesty and take a walk with me around the perimeter of the room? We can be like vultures stalking our prey."

She giggled at him and delightfully accepted the invitation. He held his arm out to her and helped her down the steps from the upper level table to the floor. She continued to sip her sparkling water as he started to go on about his ideas and policies he wanted to put forth all while charming her and making her laugh from time to time. They had made two full laps around the whole banquet hall and she hadn't even noticed.

"Having a stronger connection with the moon I think would help a great deal," he said enthusiastically.

"Well I couldn't agree more," she smiled, "but what are your domestic thoughts? What are you going to do for the people who are suffering on your world?"

He paused in their walk and turned to look at her, "I want to see to it that the rich get taxed and that money goes to the poor. I want to see students have mandatory volunteer work in their communities and such."

Thomas noticed that the queen was staring out at the couples happily dancing on the glossy floor and held his hand out to her. She looked at him with a quizzical expression over her face. She had never danced with anyone except her husband before. Then again, she had never been separated from King Endymion before either. Serena beamed at him and placed her gloved hand in his and he guided her out onto the dance floor. They moved over to where Haruka and Hotaru were dancing awkwardly together and giggled at them

"Trying to teach her how to dance since my dance partner is up on stage playing with the band," Haruka explained to the queen.

"How's the lesson going?" Thomas asked.

"I've been stepped on seven times and we're only half way through the song."

"I didn't want to dance in the first place," Hotaru complained.

"That's because you don't know how," Haruka replied. "You need to learn sometime in your life. Do you want to be a wall flower for the rest of time?"

"Yes," was her stubborn answer.

A laugh, a _real_ laugh bubbled from Serenity's throat, catching Darien's eye. He watched from the table as she was spun around in a circle by the all too eager young nominee. He had to give it to him, the man had moves. He was pulling out all the elegant stops to woo his wife and from the looks of it, it was slowly working. So this is what it felt like to have your significant other drift away from you? Darien never thought he would see the day where he would sit back and actually _let_ his legally bound partner float away mentally and emotionally from him. Fighting for her, giving her presents, sending her letters, even accidentally impregnating her were all things that had made her fall away from his grasp. He needed to sit like the magnet he was and let her drift back to him when she was ready.

On the dance floor, Serena started to drift away from the conversation that she and Thomas were having, feeling herself getting all warm, fuzzy, and tingly. The room started to spin against her will and her vision was blurry. She felt her knees get wobbly and she gripped onto Thomas's arm for support and he shot her an expression of concern.

"Are you alright, Queen Serenity?" he asked in a low voice.

"Y-yes," she stammered. "Could you escort me out of here? I don't want people to start to stare at me. I think that champagne went to my head."

He held onto her tightly and carefully snuck her out of ballroom without anyone even noticing. He helped her stumble down the hallway until finally her whole body couldn't take it anymore and she fell to the cold marble floor. Thomas scooped her up in his strong arms and she snuggled up against his chest like a baby, expecting to smell roses; she was sadly disappointed.

"Which way to your room, your majesty?" he asked.

"U-up the stairs," she whispered. "End of … the hall."

It felt like sleep was taking over her entire body, but her eyes were wide open. She could feel her feet go numb and the tips of her fingers slowly. What the hell was happening to her? She turned her head to look up at Thomas as he took her into her room, struggling a little bit to get the door open. Darien could always open the doors to their bedroom swiftly with her in his arms some how. He was made of magic … and a dash of _cheater_ she had to remind herself.

She only slightly felt Thomas put her on the bed; she was having trouble feeling anything at this point. Her only thought was what would happen to the baby? The whole time she just kept thinking about the progressing child building slowly inside her and did her best to try to channel some sort of protective forces around it.

Thomas locked the door with a click and bounded to the bed, placing himself on top of Serena. She kept her eyes closed as leaned toward her ear, his breath heating up her skin.

"I'm not going to harm you any more than I have," he explained. "Welcome to hell my queen. You're going to die … peacefully though. I wouldn't want you in pain, after all."

He rolled over and sat on her side of the bed, leaving her encased the wafting memories of Darien's scent. She silently screamed for him in her completely numbed body.

Darien looked back up at the dance floor, expecting to find his wife again, but she had gone missing. Last he saw her, she was still wrapped up in arms with that Hayward man, but he seemed to have disappeared as well. Trying not to panic, he swiftly walked up to Rini and asked, "Where's your mother?"

She shrugged and continued on with her conversation with a rather snobbish looking young man. Darien would have a talk with Rini about choosing the right man another time; for now he had to find Serena. He walked over to the end of the table where Lita and Rei were chatting up a storm, practically arguing with one another about some topic.

"Have either of you seen Serenity?" he interrupted.

The two scouts looked down the table, out on the dance floor and scanned the room all over. Michiru was on stage playing the violin with a whole band behind her. Haruka was dancing to the music with Hotaru, trying to teach her how to waltz properly. Mina was talking to Kenji near the glass doors leading out to the garden while Ami was speaking with some advisors from her home planet Mercury. But there wasn't a sight of the queen's silver head floating around.

The hair on the back of Darien's neck rose; something was amiss. The two scouts jumped down from the table and followed him quietly and swiftly out of the room. They all started to jog down the darkly lit hallway once they knew they were out of sight of the guests.

"I'll check the study!" Lita said as they all clacked up to the second floor.

"I'll look in the conference room!" Rei declared.

"I'll look in the bedroom," Darien announced under his breath as he sped up down the marble floor with his cape flapping behind him. He held tightly onto his cane as the scouts parted from him looked in other rooms. Finally making it to the end of the hallway, he came to a halt and tried to open the door. It was locked. She never locked it unless there was a do not disturb sign dangling from the golden doorknob. He could hear shuffling inside and deep voice. A frenzied fury boiled inside him as he tried to get in by ramming his shoulder against the doors. He could hear Rei and Lita running up behind him as he kicked open the double doors. In front of them was Serena sprawled out on the bed, pale, her skin tinted purple and body looking limp. Her deep blue orbs shifted toward her husband as she weakly pointed to the deck door.

"One of you tend to Serena! Get the rest of the scouts, get a doctor, and escort everyone out of her immediately!" Darien shouted.

They morphed into their scout uniform and did as he asked. Darien then ran through the bedroom, out onto the balcony and stood up on the railing. His eyes caught sight of the copper fox who thought it was smart to try and poison his queen. He leaped down off the railing of the balcony, the ground beneath him cracking when he landed. The audience through the glass doors of the banquet hall turned and looked at him, but he ignore their gasps and expressions of shock as he went running through the garden after the monster who poisoned his wife.

Mina laughed at the joke that Kenji made about how he couldn't ever fall for a Crystal Tokyo woman because she would either out-live him or out-nag him to death. She sipped her champagne with a smile until she heard a loud crunching noise outside and a slight rumble. She turned around and found Darien knelt down on the ground and suddenly got up running off into the garden. She opened up the glass door while Lita ran up to the outer scouts, trying to get them to help escort the many people out of the ballroom. They all changed into their Sailor Scout outfits which caused a bit of panic among the attendees.

She immediately turned in to Sailor Venus and ran after the king as fast as she could, but he ended up taking twists and turns a lot more than she expected. She paused for a moment and listened to where the footsteps were going. Suddenly they stopped. There were punching noises, kicking sounds, grunts, and groans coming from a few hedges away. She ran around a few more corners, her feet hitting the pavement hard until she came across the horrifying sight of Darien beating up Thomas Hayward, one of the Prime Minister candidates. She was in a trance as she stared at him sock the man in the stomach, throw a punch at his cheek, and watched as a tooth flew from Thomas's mouth. She ran up beside the fighting men and used one of her powers to cut a divide between the two of them, trying to push them apart. They ignored the separation though and went back at it the moment they got back up to their feet. Thomas took a broken end of Darien's cane and while his attention was turned to Sailor Venus for a split second, the king's back was suddenly struck by the sharp wooden stick. He let out a wail of pain and then turned around sharply to shoot out red roses at the young man. He was pinned down to the ground by the sharp foliage and Darien went up to him quickly, kicking him in the stomach, making him spit up blood which went all over his new white shoes. Before he could get really pissed off and slam his foot into Hayward's face, Mina grabbed onto his arm and dragged him away as hard as she could.

"King Endymion!" Venus shouted. "King Endymion stop!"

With blood all over his white and silver tuxedo, his cape ripped, his eyes red from the sting of tears, and his cane broken in two, as well as part of it snapped off into his back, he finally came to an end and collapsed to his knees beside the passed out man he had been beating up. Sailor Venus ran over and bent down to his level, asking him urgently, "Why did you do this?"

"He poisoned Neo-Queen Serenity," he breathed as his chest heaved back and forth from the one-sided battle he had just endured.

He felt his back with his hands, searching blindly for the end of the can shoved into his muscles. Taking a deep, cautious breath, he yanked the wood that had been jammed into him out of his body and growled loudly in agony as he did. Crimson liquid started to stain his shirt deeply, making Mina gasp in shock. She hadn't seen this much blood since back in her scout days when they used their powers and it actually killed people. Seeing Darien use his fists, physically pummeling a man down to the cobblestone ground was alarming.

Footsteps padded down the pathway and Mina looked up to find Lita and Haruka. They both narrowed their gaze upon the crumpled man on the ground swimming in a pool of blood and pinned down by a bunch of thorny flowers. Sailor Uranus walked over to him and started to remove the roses that were holding him down. Once he was free to move – if he could at all, considering his awful injuries – Haruka preceded to lift him up and threw him over her shoulder. Sailor Jupiter pointed to his wrists and ankles with her gloved index finger, creating electrical handcuffs.

"We're taking him to the dungeons down below," Sailor Uranus announced as she and Lita exited the scene and left Mina and Darien alone.

She strung his arm around her shoulders and she said, "Come on, let's get you washed up."

"No, I want to see Serena."

"Okay. Okay."

And with that, the two limped on back to the palace in the darkness of the night.

**Please let me know what you think of this chapter! I put a lot of time and effort into this one so getting your reviews and responses to it would really make me happy!**

**Up next: Will Serena survive this? What will happen to the baby?**


	10. Chapter 10: Cure

Hope you all enjoy this chapter. The action will die down if only for a little bit. The romance will be coming back soon, but I have to plan it all out.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 10: Cure**

"What are you giving her?" Ami asked as she stood over the doctor who was on call at all times for the palace. The short balding man with a big, walrus like mustache was injecting the queen with a clear liquid into her arm.

He looked at Ami through his thick glasses as he spoke and did his work, "I'm giving her an antidote to the poison that I believe he drugged her with. I read over the sample you sent me and I believe I know what it is. The symptoms are all there. Luckily, her being so powerful and rather resilient, I don't think it has affected the child she is carrying. However," he paused a moment as he took the needle out and wiped the area away with cotton ball, "I still strongly suggest you take her to the hospital tomorrow for a sonogram first thing in the morning. What she needs right now is sleep, rest, and for the medicine to do its work."

The doctor cleaned up his materials and put his bowler hat on over his shiny bare head before bidding the girls goodnight. Rini was sitting in the corner, huddled with knees up to her mouth as tears streamed down her face. She had been so conceited the whole night. Her father even ran up to her and asked if she had seen her mother. But no, all she had wanted to do was separate herself as far as she possibly could from her parental figures and instead wanted to see if she could get a date.

There was a sudden sound of rustling and stumbling and all of the scouts stood on their guard at who it could be. When they saw Mina's foot enter, they relaxed and watched as she helped carry Darien into the room. Ami pulled a chair out quickly for him to sit on and started to remove some of his clothing. She took her computer out and left him to sorely unbutton his shirt while she scanned his body for any internal bleeding or anything that they couldn't see with the naked eye.

"You came a little late; the doctor just left," Michiru said. She was standing in the corner near Rini while Hotaru was sitting on the floor beside her friend, trying to be as comforting as she possibly could be.

"I don't need a doctor, I need to know what's going on with my wife," he said through gritted teeth as he turned his body around to expose a large gash in his back.

"How did you get that?" Rei asked.

"Thomas Hayward took my broken cane and stabbed me with the sharp end," he winced. "Please, what is going on with Serena?"

"She just got an antidote, she needs rest now and tomorrow morning when she wakes up we're taking her to the hospital for a more thorough check up."

"The baby—"

"I scanned her already," Ami reassured him. "The baby is fine and the doctor believes that Serena's own powers and strength were able to help with that."

Haruka and Lita entered the room, their faces riddled with anger and despair. Ami looked up at Sailor Uranus and asked her, "Would you be so kind as to take Darien down the hall to the guest bathroom and clean him up?"

The Scout of the Sky didn't know what this blue-haired vixen was up to, but now wasn't the time to argue. With a side-nod of her head, she bid the king to follow her quick footsteps. They walked only a few feet down the hall before approaching the guest bathroom. The tension that filled the golden adorned restroom was hard even for a samurai sword to cut through. Darien leaned over the sink, exposing his wound while Haruka pulled out the necessary medicines needed to douse him with.

"I know you're still angry with me," he said.

"Not everyone can forgive so easily."

"You're stubborn like the rest of us."

"If that's what you want to call it."

The two were silent for a little bit longer as she drenched a cloth in the clear liquid and then slapped his back with. A loud grunt came from the back of his throat and he pounded his fist against the counter. The tingling pain from the cleansing solution was difficult to bear, but he gritted his teeth and took it.

"If I was you, I would react the same way in your position," he said.

Haruka's eyes turned to slits as she asked, "Oh really?"

"Lita's fiancé ... well, boyfriend I guess. Whatever, her ex that cheated on her? I wanted to go after him. I even drove by his place a few times and left a stalker-ish black rose on his doorstep just to creep him out." Sailor Uranus let out a small chuckle as he removed the cloth from his back and continued to explain to her, "I don't _need_ to apologize to you, but I feel like since you're so close to her, I should. I can't begin to explain how much I understand that this was a big mistake. All I want to do now is try to move on and make sure that the baby coming into this world is going to be healthy and happy."

She simply stared back at him. He was right; there were other things to worry about other than their social problem. Look at what all of this disorder created! A man was able to pose as being a candidate for Prime Minister and nearly killed the queen! She knew she was going to have to get over it – they all were – but it would take time.

She helped bandage him up as she said to him, "I agree that we need to concentrate on the bigger matters at hand. I still think you're a scum bag for straying from such a wonderful, endearing person, but I think the reason I feel this animosity toward you is because I know how you feel…"

Darien grimaced as he lifted his arms up in the air and Haruka started to wrap bandages around his body, "How's that?"

"I've been tempted to drift away from Michiru when we weren't having that physical connection," she said as a matter-of-factly. Darien's eyebrows shot up in the air in surprise and she pursed her lips in response, "I'm not perfect, no one is. And in our high-ranking jobs as protectors, as guardians and now with politics creeping its way into our jobs, we can't all be expected to be completely faithful. I get it; you needed a physical release and nothing more. But now this whole thing has turned into something much bigger." She paused a moment as she finished wrapping the white bandage around him, "Serena needs to feel like she doesn't have to worry about you leaving or doing this again. It'll take some time to gain her trust back, but you can do it."

He lowered his arms as he asked, "Is that what you and Michiru had to do?"

"I'm not quite as bold as you King Endymion," she answered over her shoulder, "and I never told her about my wavering faith in our relationship. Nor did I completely pursue a full on affair with anyone. I looked, I didn't touch."

He followed the scout out of the bathroom and down the hallway back to the queen's chambers where only Mina was left residing over her and Rini still sitting in the corner. The rest of them had been left to their own devices, protecting the queen in their own ways and dealing with the political chaos that had most likely ensued after the whole ordeal. Darien sighed and walked over to his daughter, extending his hands out for her to reach for. She grabbed onto them, lifted herself up into a standing position and hugged her father tightly. He groaned as he bent down and scooped her up into his arms like a baby. He cradled her out of the room and down the hallway. He quickly opened the door to her room without letting go of her and breezed in, finding Hotaru waiting for her on the edge of her bed.

"She wanted to wait for you when Mina told us all to leave," Hotaru explained.

"I assumed as much," he grinned as he laid his daughter her bed. He leaned over kissed her on the forehead and then lightly on the lips before saying, "Goodnight little princess. I love you."

She sniffed as she pushed the covers down for her to get underneath, "I love you too Daddy." Before he could exit the room, she said to him, "Dad! I'm … I'm sorry for being so … difficult."

"I don't blame you sweetheart," he replied, his palm on the handle, dragging it closed. "Goodnight."

Darien entered the queen's bedchamber, finding Mina still sitting on the edge of the bed, watching over Serenity. He walked across the room, hugged the bedpost at the end of the bed, and stared at his sleeping wife. She was curled up on her side in a fetal position, her blankets wrapped up against her pale face as she breathed lightly.

"Do you want to stay the night with her?" Mina asked.

Words couldn't come out of his mouth; he would just cry if he spoke. Serena looked so helpless and so silent. He watched as the leader of the scouts exited and with a click of the door, Darien walked around the bed to the side she wasn't sleeping on. For some reason she was stationed on his side where he could clearly see a slight indent from where he spent a many a night. He took one of the pillows and walked back to the side of the bed she was sleeping on. Like a dog, he slept on the floor below her that night, waiting for Serena to wake up.

A small, slender hand gripped onto Darien's own that was placed on his bare chest. He woke up to find Serena rolled over onto her stomach, looking down at him. She gestured with a toss of her head for him to come up to the bed. He waited for her to slide over to her side and handed her back her pillow before climbing in. Once he did, she immediately found her niche right up against his chest and pressed her ear against his heartbeat; it was speeding up at every touch.

"I thought I was going to lose you," he whispered, choking back the tears.

"What Thomas doesn't know is that queens die proudly and loudly," she replied quietly, lacing her fingers through his. "I wasn't supposed to go this way. I know I wasn't. I called out for you inside myself and you heard me." She looked up at him and started to trace his jaw line with her finger tip. She leaned up and kissed him gently on the lips before saying, "Explain it to me please. Explain to me why you did it."

He let out a loud breath before starting to finally explain his side of the story to her, "I met her every time I went to Earth. She was the one person, besides you, that I saw all the time, was in contact with on a daily basis, and grew to know very well. You and I … we hadn't made love before conceiving this child for a year Serena. You can say that the physical part of a relationship isn't more important as emotional and mental and I would fully agree with you because it's just as _equal_. Trying to talk to you about this situation was harder than I had expected; I had to schedule appointments just to hold you. I felt like I was in an ocean and you let go of my hand; suddenly I was floating away from you and I bumped into this …buoy. I grabbed on for a while—"

"How long?" she asked.

"Three months. Three confusing, chaotic, unruly months. The whole time I was with her, I was imagining she was you. I closed my eyes during sex even. But I could never finish, I never climaxed. I wanted you and instead was stuck with some lower-class version…. I couldn't stand it.

"I took her to dinner one night, ended things in person, and explained to her that I couldn't go on with this physical relationship any longer. If I wanted to be your true husband I had to be _all_ there. She didn't get it," he sighed. "She continued to try to contact me. She sent me love notes for crying out loud. I tried talking to her multiple times, I sent her rejection letters, and I even had her meet with other superiors other than myself for briefings. I had removed myself completely from her world and tried to eject myself from it. She was persistent. When you poured that wine over my head with the necklace in it, I was shocked because I didn't think she would be so stupid to go as far as send any sign in my pockets."

"Stupid bitch," she mumbled.

"I think you got it through to her when you threw her in to a freaking coffee table though," he said, rolling his eyes.

"But I saw her talking to you in the garden!"

"How did you see that?"

"Sailor Neptune."

"Of course…. Well, then you saw that I sent her off. I don't want anything to do with her. She's like a child emotionally and the only thing she's good at is getting what she wants, so she makes a damn fine politician. It was purely physical though. You have to believe me."

"I do," she said simply. "So there weren't multiple women?"

"No," Darien said shaking his head. "I don't know where you got that from, but there was one, single, rather cunning woman…. This is why I got a bit upset with you when you used the words 'fast and loose'. She had expressed herself to be so straight forward and uptight. She reminded me of you … I think that's why I was so attracted to her."

"You can't get away from me," Serena murmured.

"Nope. And I don't ever want to be away from you," he replied, kissing the top of her head.

"This whole experience has taught me so much. I can't put my family on the backburner just because I'm queen," she whispered. "Balancing my life is much more difficult than I expected. I don't want to be without you though when I'm trying to figure everything out. We will get through this … _together_."

"But you won't forgive me yet?" he asked, lowering his chin.

"You'll known when I do," she exhaled as she dug herself deeper under the covers and made him wrap his arms around her. "Like I said, if you have to ask, you'll never know."

"You deserve someone so much better than me, Serena."

"You're absolutely right," she replied, "which is why you need to build yourself back up into the man I know you can be, not this weak thing you were. We have a new baby coming into this world…"

Her words fell off as her mind was taken over by exhaustion. The two fell asleep for another few hours, both of them anticipating the busy day they had scheduled with doctors, nurses, hospitals, and that awful rubbing alcohol smell.

**Up Next: Serena finds out if the baby is alright and they all try to figure out what to do with Thomas Hayward**


	11. Chapter 11: Answers

Here is Chapter 11!! Hope you all enjoy! I love reading your reviews and opinions on my chapters and take them into full account for future chapters.

Disclaimer: I don't own and Sailor Moon characters

**Chapter 11: Answers**

Serena opened her eyes to the beautiful morning showering into her bedroom. She could hear the lovely breathing from her husband behind her who had his arm wrapped around her stomach. Throughout the night, he had gotten back into the habit of rubbing her tummy again like he did when she was pregnant with Rini. This move either kept her asleep or put her into that deep slumber when she was feeling bloated, cramped up, and couldn't possibly shut her eyes.

"Good morning," a whisper drifted into her ear.

The queen turned around to face Darien and studied his features as he ran his hands along her waist and hips. She tied her ankles through his as he started to run his hands through her long silver hair. He was glad to be back in the arms of his wife; she kept him sane.

"Feel," she ordered, grabbing his hand and placing it onto her lower abdomen, making him rub her stomach from side to side. "Am I getting bigger already?"

"A little bit," he answered honestly. "Have you been experiencing morning sickness yet?"

"It's afternoon sickness … again," she moaned as she rolled over onto her back. "I have to be careful when I choose what to eat for lunch. I hate having to be picky with food."

He ran his thumb along her soft cheek and smiled at her pouting. Their intimate moment was disturbed by a knock at the door – of course – and a sleepy pink head stuck out. Rini pushed her way gently into the room before running and sliding quickly toward the bed. Tears were falling from her eyes as she climbed into bed to be in between her parents. They chuckled at the feisty, pushy child.

"Are you okay?" she asked her mother desperately.

"Yes, darling," she replied. "I am doing fine and the baby is fine. Are you alright after this whole ordeal?"

The teenager shook her head no and buried her face in her mother's chest. Serena coaxed her daughter and wrapped her arms around her, petting her head gently. Darien rubbed Rini's back, in between her shoulder blades as she cried into her mother's chest. It had been a rather distressing time for them all as a family and now both parents needed to be there for their daughter; she was their everything and they forgot that.

"The scouts shouldn't have let you in here while I was in that state," Serena said, her brow knitted.

Rini pushed away from her mother, crossed her arms over her chest and said, "I was scared, but I'm glad no one kept me in the dark."

"I'm sorry about that your majesty," Mina said from the open doorway.

She was dressed in her Sailor Scout outfit and even looked like she had been sleeping in all night just in case. She had to be on her guard considering that the queen been poisoned earlier that night. She and Sailor Jupiter had sat outside their bedroom door throughout the long hours and Ami had kept awake in the security room watching multiple screens along with a few other civilian guards. Sailor Neptune stayed up keeping her eye on the royal couple through her mirror and making sure nothing strange happened. Sailor Uranus kept guard of the prisoner downstairs while Sailor Saturn slept in Rini's room, protecting her directly. Sailor Mars stayed up responding to e-mails, questions, and concerns, from a bunch of news branches all over the universe. Luna and Artemis helped her respond to them with a political and formal voice. Everyone was exhausted.

"Mina, don't worry about it," she said quietly. "Rini would have found a way into my room one way or another; you know how stubborn she is."

"She takes after her mother," Darien smiled.

"I don't mean to interrupt this beautiful family moment, but we do need to go to the hospital immediately," the scout announced.

Neo-Queen Serenity nodded and patted Rini's butt, "Come on. Out of bed. Go get dressed." As her daughter crawled out of bed, she called out after her, "When we get home from the hospital I expect you to go to your tutoring session today and get back into training."

She spun around and slouched over, "But Mooooooom!"

"Don't you dare, young lady," she warned. "Just because we had a chaotic night, does not mean you need to put your life on hold."

The young woman stomped out of the room, her hands clenched into fists. Mina leaned against the door, her face riddled with a mix of confusion and amazement, "How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Serena exhaled as she sat up at the edge of her bed and started to stretch.

"How do you get back to life so easily?" she asked.

"Being a Sailor Scout taught me," she smiled over her shoulder. "You remember how it was; we'd battle, we'd fight, and then the next morning, we had to return to real life with school, home, and pesky chores."

She had a point; often after defeating what they assumed to be the greatest evil of all, they would have to return to true worst malevolence also known as school. Before shutting the door, Mina asked, "Darien would you like your things moved in here?"

He shook his head, "No, not yet. I'll stay in my own separate quarters for now." He looked over at his wife, "Hope that's alright."

"Of course it is. We can't go from zero to sixty in one night," she replied.

Darien was about to leave room when Serena ran around the bed and grabbed his hand. She pulled him down to her face, completely forgetting that he had a huge wound on his back and kissed him deeply. For a split second, he even forgot about the gash that was still fresh from the night before, but the pain soon stabbed him all over again and he groaned in agony behind her lips. Serena pulled away threw him an apologetic expression.

"We'll get you looked at today as well when we're at the hospital," she smiled.

"What? The Queen of the Moon can't heal her husband?" he teased.

"I'll do minor things for you. I won't mend you at every cut or break you have," she sneered back.

He chuckled at her and then walked out of the room with Venus following him at his side, "She seems better."

"She _is_ better," he corrected.

"We need to find out who tried to do this to her," she replied. "Thomas couldn't have been working on his own. Ami did a background check."

"What did she find?" he asked, stopping at the door of his room.

"He was born to the parents of Janette and Bartholomew Hayward in Liverpool, England. He went to a private all boys school, was entered into a special pre-university school before being accepted to Oxford. He has degrees in pre-law and political science as well as English literature," she explained. "We have records all about him up until this point. There is a strange thing though; he has been known to work with that weird political group Descendants of the Great."

"What the hell is that group?" he asked.

"Some secret organization that really keeps a tight lid on most things they do, although they are highly influential with politicians on both the liberal and conservative spectrum."

"I don't like the sound of it."

"Neither do we."

"Well keeping Hayward jailed up isn't going to get him to answer any of our questions."

"And torturing him isn't the peaceful Moon Kingdom thing to go about things."

"Ah and there's the loop hole!" Darien smiled, winking at Mina. She just stared at him with her mouth gaping open and closed like a fish. "I'm still part of the Earth. I'm technically not the king of the moon, I'm king of the _Earth_. Serena even said so herself."

"Oooh, I don't know if I like the sound of that, Darien," she replied. "It could get very messy and it could be considered an abuse of power."

"Sometimes you gotta do that to protect those you love," he said before ending the conversation by slipping away into his bedroom to get changed.

"Ready?" the doctor asked as he placed the ear buds of the stethoscope in his ears.

She nodded and opened up the hospital dress she had on, exposing her skin to the doctor. He placed a stethoscope on her stomach and the cold metal made her shiver with both excitement and fear. A smile grew over his lips and he nodded slowly.

"The heartbeat of the fetus is developing nicely," he announced. Everyone in the room relaxed and sighed which consisted of Mina, Rini, and Darien. "Now you're at twelve weeks, correct?"

"Thirteen technically," she responded.

"It sounds like things are forming beautiful within you," he said. "I received word from the doctor that came to you last night that you were drugged?"

"Yes. He gave me an antidote and I was told that the baby was fine, but I needed to get it checked out just in case."

"Well, as you well know your majesty, you have powers that we scientists and doctors can't begin to understand. We've tried for many years and we still can't comprehend how you do some of the things you can, so this will just be added onto the long, long list of things."

Serena grinned before pointing to her husband, "Well, the king isn't much of a mystery; he was struck in the back last night and I think he needs tending to."

The doctor stood up from the edge of the bed and wrapped his stethoscope around his neck as he walked over to the king. Darien started to unbutton his shirt, trying not to roll his eyes. He didn't see what the big deal was; it was just a scratch.

"Now you were struck _on_ or _in_ the back?" the doctor asked.

He was answered when Darien removed his shirt off of his body and started to remove the bandages with the doctor's help. He only had to the see the tip of the wound to see that Serena was using incorrect grammar. There was a shard of wood still stuck in his back that Haruka either couldn't get out or didn't want to touch; she only had delicate hands for Michiru after all.

"Alright, let's take you down the hall and get this taken care of," the doctor instructed.

Darien walked out of the room with him and left the three women alone. Mina started to chew on her lip as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. Serena passed her a quizzical expression.

"What's the matter?" she asked her Sailor Scout.

"Are you two … back together?" she replied cautiously.

"Not officially and not definitely," Serenity replied, exhaling loudly through her nostrils as she thought about the proper way to handle this since her daughter was in the room. "I am willing to take things slow and step by step let him back into my life. I don't know what will happen necessarily, but we're going at a pace that works for us."

There was a ringing noise that pierced the air and Sailor Venus brought out her orange colored blue-tooth headpiece. She slipped it in her ear, pressed a button on the side and started to speak into it as King Endymion entered the room again, "Hello? Hey Ams. What's … what? Yeah. Yeah, all right. We'll leave immediately. Are you sure she wants to—okay, but … You feel that too? Yeah I didn't like the idea either. Right. Okay. We'll see you soon." She hung up and turned her attention to the king immediately, "Sailor Uranus has an idea that resembles your own that you were discussing with me this morning. Now, in your condition, I don't think it's wise to—"

"What condition?" Darien grinned as he turned around to expose his bare back. It was completely healed. Doctors these days were making leaps and bounds to heal the sick and needy; it was quite remarkable.

"What idea? What were you two talking about?" Serena asked, sitting up straighter in her bed.

"It's nothing, dear," he answered.

"Don't patronize me!" she snapped. "Stop keeping me in the dark!"

Before she could throw the covers off of her body and leap out at Darien, he exited swiftly and yelled over his shoulder, "Mina you tell her! I'll meet you guys at the palace!"

Serena looked over at her lead scout with an expression of utter disbelief, "What in the moon's name is wrong with him?!"

"He … he uh …. He wants to use his own _personal_ powers of persuasion to find out who Thomas Hayward is working with," Mina mumbled sheepishly.

"What does that mean?"

"Force."

"Excuse me?"

"He wants to use elaborate force and possible torture techniques to get Thomas to talk and even Sailor Uranus is on board," she explained.

Serena leaped out of her bed and started to dress right there, making Rini blush and bolt out of the room. As she clipped her bra on, slipped into her underwear quickly and then practically jumped into her jeans and sweater, she started to fume, "Who does he think he is? Why does he think he can just get away from his position as king and not have any repercussions?"

Before she could breeze out of the room, Mina placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You're starting to sound like his partner again."

Serenity laced her fingers through Mina's and smiled, "Like I said, it's a step by step process."

With that, the two exited the hospital with Rini trailing them back to the palace.

Darien entered the darkly lit room with the two way mirror. Michiru and Haruka were standing, both cross-armed in their Sailor Scout outfits. Michiru looked irritated and for once, she couldn't keep herself contained within her body. Her energy was taking over the whole room while Haruka was casually leaning up against the wall of the room next to the two way mirror.

"I don't like it," the turquoise-haired goddess stated. "This is an awful idea."

"Seriously darling, calm down," Haruka cooed.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she snapped.

The king's eyebrows shot up in surprise. He had never heard her burst like that. She usually was so cool, calm and collected. However, there were times – especially after the Mars/Neptune war – where she would burst out in anger. Haruka hadn't seen the old Michiru in years, but she still kept around for those glimpses. It was worth it at the end of the night when the two held each other, spoke about the day's events, and wound up on the same page some how. But for some reason, at this specific moment, Michiru was overwhelmingly pissed off. She had approached Haruka with a bad attitude and her vibes hadn't waned all day. Sailor Uranus wondered if it had to do with lack of sleep or something deeper.

"I _don't_ think we should do this," Michiru repeated as she started to bite her nail.

"Okay, how about first we talk to him? Interrogate him like any officer of the law would?" Darien suggested.

"And what? If you don't get your way in the first thirty minutes, you'll slowly break every bone in his body?" she scoffed.

"Let's just see what happens first with asking questions and then if we keep hitting a wall, we can go from there."

The door burst open and interrupted their deliberation. Serena walked inside with her arms crossed over her chest and her face looking like a kettle ready to burst. Her eyes were glued to the man in the other room. She was doing her best to hold back her violent tendencies, but her boiling rage was getting the better of her. Before anyone knew what she was up to, she practically exploded into the interrogation room and slammed her fists on the metal desk that Thomas was sitting at. He flinched at the noise and crouched away from the queen as much as he possibly could. He never expected her to survive that drug he gave her let alone be this lively right afterwards. Serenity was stronger than he had expected.

"Who are you working for?" she asked quietly, her eyes turned into slits. When he didn't answer, she asked again, "Who are you working for?"

His mouth stayed shut and his eyes were wide open as she climbed over the metal table and sat on the edge of it right in front of him. She reached out and grabbed him by the collar, her head cocked to the side.

"One more time before I cause some internal bleeding," she threatened. "Who do you work for?"

"You already know," he whispered. "She's not one to quit, just like yourself."

"Stella?"

He only had to raise an eyebrow at her in order for the answer to be well-known. That heinous bitch was behind all of this, of course. Serena felt her hand shake and promptly dropped Thomas back into his seat which he gladly took. He swallowed hard and watched as she walked out of room back to the place behind the two way mirror. He stared at his reflection, wondering what they were going to do, if they were planning on trying to get Stella. He almost wanted to call out to them and ask them to not hurt her in any way, but then they would begin to question him more and his feelings toward her. Thomas had fallen for the great beauty back when he was a freshman to the whole political world. When he met her, she was just newly elected Prime Minister and was more than a treat to get to know. Some how the two started to build something more than a friendship and he knew he was madly in love with her. So much so that when he found out she was having an affair with the king, he didn't stop her or protest. On the contrary, he actually supported her decision, but only because she would then confide in him all the time; their bond grew stronger and stronger because of the secret.

So why did he just confess that she was the actual perpetrator who put him up to this whole plot? After a while, the shine wears off, the glitter fades away and he could suddenly see that she wasn't what he expected. She was hungry for attention at any way she could possibly get it and he was just a pawn in that craving. Thomas wasn't ever going to get her back, especially not after this whole debacle. He would be locked away for sure, so why not have her join the party? He would try to get her back to him any way possible and if that meant jail time, then so be it. He smiled maliciously at his reflection and thought about how great their reunion would be.

Stella was in for quite the surprise…

**Up Next: The scouts go on a hunt for Stella. What will ensue?**

**Please review! xoxoxo**


	12. Chapter 12: Explosion

I got this chapter out a lot faster than I had expected! I hope you all enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 12: Explosion**

Serena paced back and forth in her large bedroom as Sailor Neptune let her leg bounce in anticipation. She, Michiru, Haruka, and Darien were all sitting in her room trying to think up of a viable enough plan to get Stella.

"Ami has already located her coordinates," Darien sighed, "so why are we sitting around and discussing this? Let's just go down to Earth, find her, and arrest her."

"I don't want you guys to get hurt," Serena replied as she bit her nail.

"We've been through worse than a woman with a jealously problem," he said.

"Most of your enemies _were_ women with a jealously problems," Haruka smirked.

"Are we done here?" Michiru suddenly snapped.

"Yes, you may leave," Serena bid.

The two scouts left their king and queen alone in the large quarters. Once the door clicked shut, Serena glided over toward Darien who was sitting casually at the vanity. She sat down on his lap and placed his hand on her lower abdomen. He could feel some sort of glowing heat emanate from that area. She tossed him a sad smile.

"This is why I'm scared for you to leave me," she said, her voice trembling quietly. "I want to have you here when this baby comes."

"I will be, don't worry," he reassured her. "It'll be fast, I will be swift, and I'll be back before you start to show."

"Promise?"

"Promise," he nodded. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he cradled her a bit, "You always become such a baby when you're about to have one."

"My body changes, it's a scary time!" she exclaimed, slapping his arm playfully.

"I'll be around, don't worry. Just like I was around for Rini."

"Good." Serena stood up and patted his shoulder, "Well you better get ready. Michiru and Haruka are anxious to leave."

* * *

Darien adjusted his headset as he stared into the monitor at Michiru's face. Her turquoise eyes were blistering with fury as she bounced back and forth in the car. Haruka had been overly excited to get back into a racing car and couldn't control herself as she shifted gears. Her partner on the other hand hit her head over and over again, still not used to the adjusting speed and throttle of the car.

"Will you slow down and stop it!" Michiru exclaimed. "You're going to kill us!"

"Cool your jets, sweetheart!" Haruka laughed.

"King Endymion, I'll be in contact when we get closer to the farm," she replied into the passenger's side mirror.

She flipped it up and signed out of contact with Darien while clutching onto the sides of the seat. Haruka was speeding up to nearly three-hundred miles an hour! Michiru slapped her partner as hard as she could, considering she was practically pinned down by the seatbelt.

"What is your deal?" Haruka asked over the roaring engine.

"My deal? My _deal_?! My deal is that you can look, but not touch. My deal is that you had once been tempted and _never_ told me!" she screamed

"You spied on me?!"

"Yes I did! I wanted to make sure that you didn't kill the king," she explained as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why would I kill the king?!"

"Please! You are the one out of all of us who has been the _most_ pissed off at him!"

"It's my duty to protect him!"

"No, it's your duty to protect Neo-Queen Serenity and it's always been your passion to have a relationship with her!"

The speed moved up slowly as the green pastures breezed passed them like a tornado of color. Haruka had always had an undisclosed crush on Serena, but it was a secret that everyone had seemed to know. She thought that Michiru only took it as a tiny crush and she herself thought of it as being playful. After a while, it seemed to have gotten the better of her though especially since Michiru had drifted away over the last few years. It was more and more difficult as the months dragged on slowly with their relationship deteriorating at an alarming rate, like a fast decaying body.

"Seriously, where is the woman I fell in love with?!" Haruka barked. "I have been beside you this whole time as you have been overly enraged, pissed off, and quite frankly an absolute dreadful person to be around! Why haven't we moved passed this dilemma?!"

"You know how hard that war hit me," she replied, her voice shaking with fear at their huge fight and what would amount from it. "And since Rei won't speak to me or even look at me … it's made this whole experience much harder!"

"You're pushing me away, Mich," she announced, "and I don't know how much longer I can stick around."

She snapped her deep eyes to her partner whose gaze was fixated on the road, "Are you … are you trying to … are we ….?"

"It's a thought," she suggested. "We might need a break from each other."

Michiru slammed her fist against the inside of the car door and tried desperately to not cry. It had been a difficult few years together and she knew that the waves inside her were restless while the winds inside Haruka were causing a great storm. The two were bound to create some time of chaos, but neither of them wanted to part. If maybe they could calm their wild feelings down or find a way to work together … but they already tried that didn't they?

"The coordinates are right up here," Michiru pointed as thick clear tears streamed down her face.

Haruka slowed down, a look of concern etched on her face. She reached out to the turquoise haired woman in the passenger's seat, but her hand was quickly removed. She couldn't touch her … it was too hard to bear. Just as they were about to come up to the ranch house, Haruka glanced at her lover before everything went white.

* * *

Michiru rolled over onto her back, feeling the cold, wet grass against her skin. Red hot blood was dripping down from her head as she sat up slowly to examine the damage. Her seatbelt had caused a brilliant burn against her shoulder and across her chest. There were cuts all along her bare arms and legs from the broken glass that had flown by her from the explosion of the car; she knew she should have worn jeans and a long-sleeve shirt. She felt a surging pain shoot up her leg as she tried to get up to her feet. She must've broken her ankle when she landed.

"There had to have been a detonator waiting for us," she groaned. "Haruka?"

Her eyes scanned the area around her, but she didn't see her lovely short blonde-haired beauty anywhere in the field. There was the door from her side, a bunch of car parts splattered around, and even a piece of metal, possibly a part of the engine, lit on fire. She stumbled back toward the road, her voice cracking as she tried to scream out loud. Michiru walked along the hot pavement toward the flaming car that had been shattered into pieces.

"Haruka!!" she shrieked.

She heard a small moaning noise coming from the other side of the car. With her bare feet stinging at every step, she finally made it to where her lover was; pinned underneath her own seat, or what was left of it. She lifted up Haruka's wrist which had the communicator still intact – Michiru's was destroyed from the impact against the ground.

"Help! Darien! Send help out immediately! There's been an explosion! We need an ambulance now!"

Small whimpers escaped from her bloodstained lips as she tried to figure out what to do at that moment. Michiru lifted the seat up off of Haruka's body, exposing a rather large cut that was racing across her stomach. Her legs were bloodied up and even some bone was sticking out in her left leg. Michiru started to rip into the leather seat and she dug into the innards of it.

"No! That cost me so much to have custom made!" Haruka gasped.

"Do you want to save your damn car – which is in _pieces_ – or do you want to save your life?!" Michiru sniffed loudly as she started to press the sponge-like material to the open wound. Haruka smiled weakly, her energy fading fast and her eyes shutting. Michiru leaned over and whispered into her partner's ear, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I just can't … I can't lose you. Please hang on dearest. Haruka I love you too much to see you die on me now. Don't go. _Don't_ go. I love you. I love you. I love you."

Her sobs were soon muffled by the loud sirens of ambulances and police cars racing to the scene of the explosion. Everything then moved in slow-motion for her. She watched as the paramedics lifted her lover up slowly onto a gurney and then into the back of the van. She climbed in with them, holding Haruka's cold, limp hand. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was loosing color in her face. There were beeping noises going on through out the ambulance, but she couldn't understand what any of them meant as they drove to the hospital. When questions were asked of her about what happened, she simply shrugged; it was like she was underwater and she could hardly hear what they had to say. She saw a light flash into her turquoise eyes, checking for a concussion and when one didn't seem to be apparent, they asked her a few simple questions which she still had difficulty answering.

"Your name is Michiru Kaioh, right?" one of the paramedics asked.

"Yes. Wait! No! It's Michiru Tenoh," she corrected them. Grasping onto Haruka's hand tightly, she whispered, "I'm her wife."

Haruka was the one who wanted to get married surprisingly enough, but Michiru was always too skeptical to do so. She loved her partner very much, but to be married was a huge step and she had felt like Haruka had never truly loved her. She was always flirting with other women and men, almost as if show off in front of her girlfriend. Yes, it pissed her off to see this blatant flaunting, but now she was realizing that this was part of her; she flirted nonchalantly and didn't mean to.

"Ma'am, your wife is in critical condition," medic explained. "The moment we get to the hospital, we'll have to take her into the emergency operating room. There's a doctor waiting to escort you to treat your injuries."

"I understand," she said, still squeezing onto Haruka's hand as tears washed over her face.

Once they got to the hospital, she had a desperately hard time letting go of her lover. She could hardly control her sobs as they shook her body. Michiru was escorted into the hospital by a tall man in a white coat with thin glasses. When they entered the examining room, she was met with Darien who had an expression of deep distress and worry written all over his face. She immediately dove into his arms, burying her face into his chest. There was an instant comfort and warmth that encased her as she did this which made her realize why the queen did this so much.

"What happened?" he asked quietly as he bid the doctor to wait for them. He patted her head gently and waited for her answer.

"We were arguing on the way there. I wasn't paying attention to my senses because they were all muddled up from the fight and we came across a land mine or some sort of detonator that was expected to go off the moment we got to the prescribed coordinates. The last thing I remember is Haruka trying to reach for my hand and I refused to let her hold it!" she exclaimed, her fear of losing her partner washing over her like a thick ocean wave and nearly drowning her in sorrow. "Then I woke up in pain on a field and I was able to stumble over to her. She was practically buried underneath her car seat which she refused to have torn open so I could get something, _anything_, to soak up the blood. She is so stubborn!"

Michiru pushed away from Darien's grasp and tried to gain her solid composure that she had been known for. She gestured for him to let the doctor in and start examining her wounds. He stared at her for extra second or two before letting the doc in.

* * *

"She hasn't moved from her side since?" Serena asked as they all stood in the waiting room.

"No, she hasn't," Darien replied, shaking his head.

Mina, Lita, and Rei had come along with Serena to Earth in order to find Stella themselves. Ami was back at the Golden Palace, replaying footage of the explosion from outside wired road cameras. Hotaru was helping Rini with her training and studies, trying to get her to not worry about what was going on at the moment.

Rei stood up to her feet and started to walk toward the room where Michiru and Haruka were residing. The rest of the group merely looked at her curiously and she smiled at them silently. She strolled into the room, its cold sunlight coming in through the fluttering white curtains. On the television set above was a violinist and pianist playing together. When Rei was able to adjust her violet eyes to the light in the room, she saw that it was a recording of one of Michiru and Haruka's recitals together. She turned to discover the ocean goddess trying her best to dab away the salty tears. Just the sight of one love holding onto another made Rei want to weep. She simply stood still as Michiru got up and stepped toward her. The two embraced whole-heartedly and cried into one another quietly. Now Michiru knew what Rei had lost and Rei had finally found a connection with this sailor scout that she hadn't had before.

Pulling back from the hug, the dark-haired scout asked the one from Neptune, "How is she doing?"

"She's been touch and go these last few days."

"I was just testing you," a raspy voice said, piercing the air.

Michiru swirled around and found the love of her life awake with that glint in her eye. She rushed toward her and gently hugged her, remembering that she had a bunch of wounds all across her body. She cupped her pale face and kissed her all over until Haruka held her head in place and planted a deep passionate kiss right on her lips. Removing her wet mouth from her lover's, she joked, "Bad breath, I know. I haven't been able to brush my teeth days."

"I'll take your bad breath any day!"

"Oh and don't think I didn't hear your exclamation in the ambulance ride over here," she winked. "Wife, eh? We'll have a ceremony in a music hall and then we'll ride off into the night in a beautiful Ferrari that's painted the same color as your hair."

"What makes you think I'm ever going to get back in a car with you after what happened?" she smirked. Before Rei could sneak out of the room and away from their reunited moment, Michiru stopped her, grasping onto her wrist, "Thank you. You're the only one who understands."

She nodded to the outer scout in an all-knowing sort of way before exiting the hospital room. She sighed and crossed her arms as approached the rest of the group. Serena was simply tense with hope with how the couple was doing.

"Looks like we're going to have another married couple on our hands," she said, rolling her eyes.

The group cheered and laughed out loud. They had all speculated that the two scouts would marry and when they hadn't after years and years, it was becoming more likely that they just wouldn't go through that process.

"What are we going to do about Stella?" Lita asked. "This woman has more tricks up her sleeve that we had anticipated."

"We'll find her," Serena assured her.

"No," Darien corrected as he patted her stomach as a reminder. "_We_ all will, but you need to be careful. I'd rather have you safe and out of this situation than in danger and risking your life and the life of our child."

Serena arched an eyebrow at him; it was strange to see this overly protective side of Darien. He was looking out for their future and the future of their child. It was rather sweet really and something she had missed over the last few years.

* * *

**Up next: Will the scouts be able to find Stella before she destroys them one by one? Find out next…**


	13. Chapter 13: Creation

These chapters are coming along nicely I feel like! I hope you all are enjoying the story. ^_^ Please let me know with some feedback!!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 13: Creation**

Ami heard Rei sigh out loud as they sat in the large, dark tinted car. Rain was beating down on the thick windows as the inner scouts sat, staking out the house that Stella could have possibly been staying at. Ami had done some in-depth research and even hacked into a few personal computers in order to find out where her closest friends and relatives were staying. This was the last place they would have thought to look; her ex-boyfriend's house. This was the man she had been dating before she met Darien.

"You know she's not going to come out," Rei groaned as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the window.

"I'm almost scared to be in a car now after what happened to Haruka and Michiru," Mina shivered.

"I thoroughly examined the area around us and made sure that there weren't any bombs or anything like that," Ami reassured her. Handing Rei the chunky binoculars, she pointed to the house, "Look. You can see two figures moving. He's there with someone. His file said he lived alone here at his house and the landlord even said he never really has family over. The only person who has ever been there is Stella."

"Then why don't we ambush them?!" Lita exclaimed as she leaned forward from the backseat.

"Because we're not certain it's her," she answered.

"What about a search warrant?" Mina suggested.

"Those take too long," Rei replied as she handed the binoculars back to Ami.

"So we've been dwindled down to a waiting game," Lita groaned, falling back against her seat.

"I'm getting hungry," Mina whined.

"Seriously guys, this will work," Ami protested as she turned her back to the house and looked at her fellow scouts. "We can't give up now."

"We don't even know if that really is her inside," Rei pressed on.

"Hey look!" Lita exclaimed.

They all turned their attention to house across the street to find a tall slender figure walking down the steps. The street light suddenly went out at the exact moment and person had their head lowered so the scouts couldn't make it out as to who it was. From the silhouette they made it out to be Stella, but none of them to tell for sure with the dark shadows cast all over her body. She looked as if she was carrying something big and heavy. She lifted up what looked to be a large rifle mixed with a bazooka and pointed it at the SUV.

"GET OUT!!" Lita screamed.

They all leapt out of their car doors and rolled away from the explosion. As the smoke cleared, they coughed a bit, got up to their feet and transformed into their sailor scout outfits. They waited for her to get out of the shadows, but she didn't move. Instead, she shot the gun again and Sailor Mars shot back with her own fiery bow and arrow, completely disintegrating the assault.

"Let's do attack G!" Mina ordered.

The rest of them nodded. Ami shot a wave of cold water toward the gun and it was thrown out of Stella's hands. Venus whipped out her chain and grabbed onto the weapon in mid air while Sailor Jupiter simply shot her finger toward Stella's ankles and hands causing electrical, short chain handcuffs to come up and tie her down. Rei caught the large gun and the four of them ran over to the fallen avenger. When they pulled her out into the light, they discovered it wasn't a "her" after all! It was her ex-boyfriend, Lucas.

"What the hell?!" Rei exclaimed.

Lita removed the wig he was wearing and yanked him up to his feet by his flaming red hair, "Where is she?! Where's Stella!"

He merely laughed in her face which caused her to sock him in the jaw. A little bit of blood dribbled from his lips as he continued to laugh and shake his head. While Lita tended to the pseudo interrogation, the rest of the gang went running inside the house searching for any sign of Stella. Looking upstairs in all of the rooms, bathrooms, and the living room and kitchen, they found it to be all clear. Mina did discover a note scribbled with loopy handwriting on the coffee table though.

"Dear scouts," she began to read out loud. "I saw you coming for me from a mile away. Luckily, Lucas and I were able to hatch a plan for my escape. Have fun with him. He's wrapped around my finger, you'll never find out where I've run off to. I wasn't that stupid to tell him my future whereabouts. Give my love to Darien and tell Neo-Queen Serenity that she can rot in hell with that brat in her belly. Xoxo, Stella."

"Well what the fuck do we do now?!" Rei asked, still holding onto the clunker of a gun in her grasp.

"Back to the drawing board," Ami shrugged.

"I hate the drawing board!" Lita complained as she walked up to the front door of the house with Lucas draped over her shoulder.

"Did you knock him out?" Mina asked as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"He fell over and hit his head on the light pole, I swear!" she giggled.

The rest of the scouts just rolled their eyes and waited as squad cars came to pick them up and retrieve the co-conspirator.

"Serena isn't going to be happy about this," Mina murmured as she got into a car with Rei.

"And in her condition too … we don't want her to be any more stressed out than she already is," she replied.

* * *

Darien slipped into the bedroom quietly and closed the door shut behind him as fast as he could. He didn't want any of the noises he knew were being made to get out in the hallway; the sound would bounce off the walls and someone other than himself would hear. He glided across the room and watched as Serena wriggled over to the center of the bed, her wails and sobs still filling the room like depressing music. He climbed in beside her fully clothed in his royal get up from the press conference he had gone to earlier that day.

"I hate my hormones," Serena cried as tears ran down her face.

He placed his lips against her ear and wiped away the tears from her blushing cheeks as he said, "Just a few more months, my queen. You can hang in there."

"I'm freaking out Darien!" she exclaimed.

"I know you are, but you have to believe in the scouts. They will get Stella," he replied. Smoothing her hair out with his hand, he murmured, "You really should be back at the Crystal Palace, Serenity. You'll continue to be stressed here and—"

"I'll continue to be stressed up _there_ too!"

"But you're away from our daughter. You know how she gets when we're both away from her for such a long period of time," he dictated.

She patted her stomach and whispered, "Small Lady … and we're going to have another small creature. Darien…"

"Yes?"

She turned over and looked at him deeply in his eyes whispering, "I love you," before she pressed her lips against his. She pulled back and swiped a strand of hair away from his eyes, "Don't ask if I've forgiven you yet because I haven't."

"I wasn't going to," he lied.

Serena rolled her puffy eyes at him and sat up. Over her shoulder she told him, "I better go meet with the scouts and let them know I'm headed back to Crystal Tokyo."

Darien rolled onto his back, laced his fingers over his stomach and stopped her before she left, "Hey!" His wife turned around to listen, "I love you too."

She blushed like a school girl and walked out of the room with her heart beating faster. Their relationship was slowly getting back on track…

* * *

Rei sipped her tea in her temple-like room as she casually pulled card after card out in front of her, reading what the future had in store. It all seemed to point to one conclusion; a wild goose chase. She pursed her lips at the proclaimed future and wondered if all of this searching for Stella was really worth it.

A knock at the door made her snap out of her gaze and in front of her was Michiru, looking rather sullen and slightly depressed. She tilted her head and bid her fellow scout in. The scout of the ocean removed her shoes and limped inside.

"They still haven't healed that ankle for you?" Rei asked, pointing to it, seeing that it was clearly bandaged.

"I haven't finished the pills. By the end of the week, I should be walking normally," she replied. "Medicine here doesn't work as fast as it does in Crystal Tokyo."

"A lot of things don't move as fast here," Rei mumbled as she sipped her tea. "The security, the cops, ambulances, everything seems so slow on Earth."

"It must be the gravity," Michiru joked. She smiled in response and then offered her some tea which she gladly took. Looking up from her steaming cup, she said quietly, "Look, I wanted to discuss with you more deeply about the … the war. We never once brought it up, but I know how upset you are with me and the whole incident."

"We both took a toll during that time."

"But when he died—"

"When he died it was the last straw for sure!" she snapped, her eyes starting to get heated. "Michiru, I don't want apologies, I don't want sympathy, I don't want pity!"

"What can I do then? Every time you look at me, I feel like you want to kill me!"

"And every time I look at you, I see him dying in your eyes!" Rei let the tears fall against her will. She tried desperately to wipe them away, but they wouldn't. "I'm sorry we wanted your resources. We took it too far. Shikaru … he influenced a lot of the war so when he died, the war was officially over. There was no more fighting for that stupid miniscule gravel that was used in our technology. We should have just bartered or traded! I argued with him so much over that!" She felt Michiru's arms cover her shoulders as she continued on, "You know me, you know my planet. I'm the goddess of war. We symbolize taking action, not thinking about what comes next or who gets hurt. I never dreamed he would be killed. Ever. And all over something so stupid. He had more fire, more passion, and more drive than I did which is probably what drew me to him. He was a hard find."

Michiru started to pet her head as she replied with a cracked voice, "I know. It's hard to find the ones you really want to devote yourself to, especially since we're all spoken for by a current leading lady. To find a person who will stand by you and be there for you as you protect this huge figure is a big deal. That's why I'm so scared of losing Haruka, physically, emotionally, and mentally. I love her so much."

"I love you too darling."

The two parted and found Haruka leaning up against a crutch. Michiru got up to her feet all too quickly and limped even more heavily toward her injured partner. The color was back in her face, the sparkle was back in her eye, and she looked like after one more night's rest, she would start to get restless and want to fight.

"What are you doing here? They let you out?"

"Yeah they did," she nodded.

"Why didn't you call me?!"

"I wanted it to be a surprise! But when I got to our room, you weren't there. The queen said to look here." She looked over Michiru's shoulder and called out to Rei, "Which by the way, she wants to see you immediately in the conference room."

Mars bolted out of the room right before the two embraced in a quaint kiss. Michiru and Haruka limped with one another back to their own quarters, neither of them letting go of one another or letting go of the smile on their faces. Once they reached the bedroom, they both glanced at each other before doing their ritual race to the bed. As always, Haruka won and flaunted it in front of Michiru. She simply beamed at her and plopped down on their comfortable dark blue satin comforter with stitched in gold stars and turquoise moons.

"Are you and Rei all patched up?" Haruka asked, dragging a slender finger across her cheek.

Michiru nodded, "I think so. She just regrets going to war over something so miniscule. I think she blamed my planet for having the material in the first place and thus blamed me for being associated with it."

"Sounds like Rei," she breathed. "What about us? Are we all patched up?"

"We're bandaged up," Michiru smirked and her lover nudged her a bit in response. "No, but seriously … I … I want to say yes, but I know we have unresolved issues."

"Damn straight. What's this whole idea that I want to have a relationship with the queen?"

"You are always flirting with her, protecting her … I don't know, I've been getting jealous lately."

"Did you ever think that maybe the reason why I did that was because you were pushing me away?"

"Yes," Michiru nodded, closing her eyes for a second before opening them back up again; they were filled with tears again.

"Don't cry my beauty. I'm not mad at you or anything. I'm just saying that when you push me away for so long, _so long_, I tend to get a little more flirty than normal," she explained. "And by the way, I would never, ever pull a King Endymion."

"Oh is that what we're calling it?"

"Yes! Because I have more of a back bone than he does! It comes with not having a penis," she joked.

Michiru nudged her back for the rude remark, but was giggling all the same. Haruka could finally look at her and see that the woman she had fallen in love with, the one who would take all of her stupid jokes, sit in a speeding car with her, play violin and let her get her musical itch scratched by playing the piano … this was her. She was coming back. Haruka leaned forward and kissed her fiancée deeply and ran her hand through her thick turquoise hair.

"Guys! The queen would like to meet with you!" Ami exclaimed, bursting into their quarters without a knock.

"Intimate moments do not seem to last that long in this palace," Haruka quipped as she rolled out of bed and started to make her way slowly to the conference room with Michiru at her side.

Once they made it to the conference room, they found some of the screens lit up on the wooden wall behind the queen. One screen had a building of a cathedral on it, one had the street outside of it, and another had an aerial view of it. Serena was standing on her feet, a look of determination etched in her features while the rest of the scouts were sitting down, waiting for her to continue on with the serious conversation.

"We have gotten word that Stella is at the Juniper Glass Cathedral," she announced as the scouts sat down. "She apparently has some connection with the guy who goes up to the top and rings the bells."

"Is she planning on becoming a nun? What is she doing there?!" Haruka asked.

"We don't know, but we have a plan of attack," Mina replied. "Ami and I will climb to the tower and basically chase her out of the building."

"Once we're done there, you and Michiru will be waiting at the open end of the dead end street to get her," Ami continued. "We've arranged for you to drive another car in order to escort her as quickly as possible to the police station."

"And if that doesn't work, the rest of the exits possible will be blocked off by Rei and me," Lita finished.

"Will you two be better by tomorrow?" Rei asked.

Michiru looked at her partner and knitted her eyebrows together, "I don't think we will be."

"I'll heal you," Serena said with a wave of her hand.

"You should really save your strength to carry that baby, Serena," Mina replied.

"There won't be a baby if Stella gets to me," she responded. Looking at her two injured scouts, she announced, "I will heal you in the morning before you depart. I really have no energy right now. I have to figure out how I'm going to tell Darien that I'm not leaving for Crystal Tokyo yet."

"Already did," he said from the doorway. "Nice plan. Thanks for filling me in on it dear."

As he stalked away, Serena stomped her foot at the inconvenient timing. She dismissed the group and started to run after her husband, but he was nowhere to be found. When calling out his name, she heard no response back and even the servants hadn't seen where he went off to. That's when she knew where he was. She climbed the stairs to the highest tower of the castle and looked out the window where she had the best view of the whole entire garden. There, in the back, was Darien standing where gazebo was, completely surrounded by tall, perfectly cut hedges. She wasn't ready to spy on him again, to sneak up on him like they used to. He was waiting for her to find him, but she wouldn't go. Not yet. It wasn't time.

* * *

**Up next: Battle with Stella again! Will they catch her this time?**


	14. Chapter 14: Entanglement

In all honesty, I expected this chapter to turn out to be the one where the scouts engage in their plan, but instead, I decided at last minute to have it be more about romance a little more tension between Darien and Serena.

I'll warn you now, there is a specific adult scene in this chapter.

But I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 14: Entanglement**

Serena sat up waiting for Darien to enter through the double French doors to their Golden Palace bed chamber. It was nearly one o'clock in the morning and he still hadn't arrived. Feeling tired and exhausted from the day's events, she threw the covers off her and walked into the brightly lit bathroom. She started to run a bath for herself, dropping in small aroma beads as the hot water ran. She undressed quickly and got into the tub as it was still filling up with water when she suddenly heard the door close.

"Endymion?" she asked.

He strolled into the bathroom and looked down at his naked wife who had pulled her knees up to her chin. She still hadn't taken her down her hair and she tilted her head to gesture for him to do it for her. He knelt down and started to unravel her silky white tresses, gazing at her worried expression and waiting for her to say something more.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the plan," she blushed. "It was sort of just decided upon at last minute. Ami received some incoming data, we started to layer one detail on after another and then it was settled that I would stay just in case anything went wrong."

"You don't think I can handle it?" he asked calmly as he untangled the rest of her long locks.

"I do," she said, curling her face up against her arms that were wrapped around her legs.

"You got like this when you were pregnant with Rini too," he commented. "I don't mean to trivialize your condition Serena, but you tend to get very high and mighty when you're with child. You want to do everything yourself and not have anyone help. You may be called an 'invincible queen' but you know you're not."

"It drains me," she shrugged. "Being pregnant and carrying a new child, the anticipation of it all … I want to be back to normal."

He leaned over and kissed the top of her head, "Normal for you is almighty and overly powerful; having the stars at your fingertips."

Serenity looked back up at her husband and with quick tug of his wrist and an unexpected feat of strength on her part, she pulled him into the bath with her. The two laughed out loud and she started to undress him out of his lavender cape and tuxedo shirt. Before they could get too intimate, they heard a voice holler through their bedroom.

"Mom?! Dad?"

Rini suddenly walked into the bathroom and couldn't help but stare at her two parents in the bathroom. Serena shrieked with alarm and slight anger her dumbfounded daughter. When she didn't move right away – frozen with shock – Darien pulled himself out of the tub as quickly as possible and pushed his daughter out of the room.

"We'll talk to you in a minute Small Lady."

"But—"

"Out!"

"But—"

Serena jumped out of the tub and with Darien's body covering her, she pushed the door closed and screamed through it, "What part of privacy don't you understand young lady?! Go to your room!"

The two exhaled loudly as they slid down the back of the door. Darien wrapped his arms around his dripping wet wife whose expression of annoyance was deeply engrained in her features from the looks of it. She patted her stomach and asked with an arched eyebrow, "You really want another one of _those_? Seriously?"

"What is she doing here?" he asked.

"That's what I was trying to tell you!" she said through the door. "The Sailor Stars arrived at the Crystal Palace and I escorted them to the Golden Palace to see you!"

"Rini, I said go to your room. NOW!" Serena shouted. She sighed in Darien's arms, "We'll never get a moment's rest. Ever. Can we please take a sick day?"

"You've had plenty of those with the morning sickness haven't you?" he remarked. "And the birthing process will be another day or so. Revel in the chaos … at least for now."

"Why?"

"Because then there are quick moments like this…"

He leaned over and kissed her longingly on the lips. These "quick moments" as he put it were more like stretches of time that felt like forever but were wrapped up in only a few seconds. Serena had felt this before many times when battling with alongside her. She had also felt it when they would make very passionate love with one another and it felt like it lasted years, but really it was just one night together. When Darien pulled back, he stroked her cheek gently.

Serena jumped up from his lap and started to dry off her naked body, "Let's go before I get too caught up in your kiss."

Darien grinned at her and went off to go change into some dry clothes. The two changed into their royal gear and entered the den where the Sailor Stars were waiting patiently around the large fire; they were in their male forms. They turned and smiled proudly at the king and queen. Seiya specifically held a wider smirk than the rest of them as he caught Serenity's eye. The three of them knelt down quickly to their higher superiors.

"I'm pleased to see you all," Serenity greeted. "To what do we owe this rather late arrival of yours?"

"I apologize for the time, your majesty," Yaten bowed.

"It's no trouble."

"We received word from Sailor Pluto that you were having difficulties lately," Taiki said. "Can we be of any assistance to you?"

"For now, no, we do have it under control," she replied. "If you'd like to stay though, you're more than welcome."

The two who had spoken, looked to Seiya who was keeping his eye trained on Serena. Endymion was watching him watch her and he had to say, it made him rather uncomfortable. He had only met these three a few times and heard a multitude of stories about them. He was thankful that they had been around to help Serena during her last battle, but as far as he was concerned, they were still some what of strangers to him.

Serenity glanced over her shoulder, noticing that her husband was getting tense at the idea of having the Sailor Stars in _his_ palace. His ego was being walked all over and she knew he didn't like it, just by the sound of his breathing. She grasped onto his hand and smiled at the three, slender men who were waiting for something more to be said.

"We should head off to bed," she said to them. "We have a big day tomorrow and we're going to need all of the energy we can possibly muster. I'll see you all at breakfast."

With that, she bid them goodnight and dragged Darien away from the staring contest he was having with Seiya. They made it back to their bedroom where she immediately got undressed as soon as the doors closed. The moonlight bounced off of her porcelain skin as she sashayed over to the bed. There she laid herself out and proposed him to follow with a flick of her finger. Darien's eyes were practically drunk at the sight of his beloved laying naked before him. Before moving toward her, he locked the door just in case anyone had any crazy ideas of trying to barge in again. He started to quickly undress gracefully, almost like the clothes were melting off of him.

Darien climbed into the bed and straddled over his wife's body as she whispered, "Will you make love to me? While I don't have a camel's hump on my stomach?"

He sniggered at that comment and leaned over closely to her lips, "We were able to have sex when you had a 'hump' before. It made you more relaxed. The doctor even prescribed it."

"It felt awkward."

"You _were_ awkward. You're not used to that kind of body," he replied as his hands ran over breasts, gently massaging her nipples, making her groan. "I love it when you get that heavenly glow from the inside out. You look beautiful in any stage of life."

"Shut up and kiss me," she ordered, tugging his face to smash against hers.

His hands slid down to her lower region, rubbing her slowly and smiling at the result; she was moist already. She gripped onto his shaft, seeing that he was just as ready as she was. Her heartbeat quickened a little and her breath grew deep and fast. He slowly let her pull him inside her; the two of them were one. It felt warm, tight, soothing, and released a calming sensation over the two of them. They both started to produce a gentle rhythm, going in and out, sweaty skin slapped against one another as they did. Serena gripped onto the sheets before smacking her palms against Darien's back. She used her nails to scratch his back which gave him chills across his warming skin. He lifted her up and pressed her against the headboard as he continued to slam inside her. Positive moans and groans escaped from her lips while he gritted his teeth, holding onto her hips and keeping her in an upright position. Darien felt her shake a little bit which to him meant that she had just climaxed. A huge smile cut across her face as she gripped onto his shoulder, making him pause for a moment so that she could relish in the tingling feeling. When she felt she had taken in all she could, she grasped onto the back his head which bid him to continue to imbed himself inside her. Darien leaned over and started to kiss her breasts, tasting the sweat droplets that slithered down her skin. A grin yanked at his expression as he tugged on her nipples with his teeth. Serena gasped loudly which was followed quickly with a bubbling giggle. They laced their finger together and Serena's arms were placed above her head as he continued to slide in and out of her quickly. His grip tightened on her hands and he leaned his forehead against the wall adjacent to her head. Darien groaned out loud, becoming tense and shaking slightly while Serena felt herself become warm and rather relaxed. The two stayed in their position for a moment, trying to catch their heavy handed breath and feeling the other pulsate with passion. Serena clasped her hands onto Darien's face and kissed him deeply.

"We haven't made love like that in years," he breathed as they slithered back down to the bed and got underneath the surprisingly cold sheets.

"I feel energized, but limp," Serena said, still gasping for her breath to be steady.

The two lay down next to each other and linked hands again, but both were too hot and sweaty to cuddle. Darien rolled over onto his side and he rested his head against his palm as he studied her.

"Hey, what are we going to name the baby?" he asked.

"I don't think we should decide on that until it comes into this world," she answered.

He nodded in agreement and flopped back down onto the pillow. The two of them eventually found each other in the large bed after they had cooled off and became tangled in one another.

* * *

It wasn't chirping that woke Rini up that morning, but the sound of her mother pulling the curtains to her room wide open. She turned around to face her daughter, her arms crossed over her chest and a look of disapproval and anger written all over her face. The sun shimmered right behind Serenity, making her look even more powerful than she probably was feeling after a whole night of love making.

"Why didn't you call?" she asked sternly.

"I called the scouts," she shrugged. "No one answered. And since they came so late, I thought it would just be best to bring them to you."

"Do you know why I left you at the Crystal Palace, Small Lady?"

She shook her head.

"It's safe there. It's impenetrable. It's a fortress. You could have been attacked on that ship all by yourself."

"I wasn't by myself. Hotaru and the Sailor Stars were with me," she corrected as she sat up in her bed.

"You went against my orders. You could have waited until morning to get a hold of us here at the palace!" she snapped. "You were impatient, you were hasty, and you put your life at risk. I want you to do a three-hour session of study work, an hour lunch, and then four full hours of training. No ifs, ands, or buts about it! You understand me?"

"Yes Mama," she nodded solemnly.

"Good. Now get up and meet us for breakfast."

She left her daughter's room in a huff and was met with Darien half way down the hallway. He had that all-knowing look on his face and she knew exactly what he was going to say as her heels clacked harshly against the marble floor, "I'm the bad guy! I know!"

"No, you're not," he reassured her, grabbing her hand and making her stop walking so fast. "You did exactly what I would have done. What she did was reckless. She's a teenager though; rebellion runs through her veins."

"I don't ever recall being like this when I was her age," she murmured as they walked at a slower pace, hand in hand.

"You were fighting evil, remember? You had just come into your prime teenage years. I think you were able to take all of your rebellion out on the monsters," he grinned.

She elbowed him with a sly smile curving her lips before they entered the large dining room where everyone was waiting for them. The Sailor Scouts and Sailor Stars were seated at the white sheeted round table. Serena hated the idea of sitting at the head of a long table and Darien sitting practically all the way across the room at the other end. So to solve that problem, she requested for a round table; that way everyone was equal.

"Where's the princess?" Hoatru asked.

"She's on her way," Serenity replied curtly as the king held out her chair for her. He sat down next to her started to fill his plate with toast, sunny side up eggs, and grilled vegetables. "So, are we all ready for the plan today?" The scouts nodded to the queen. "Good."

"We'll be in the control room here at the palace, communicating with you guys at all times," Darien announced.

"What? No," his wife protested. "I want to be there when they catch her!"

"Serenity, you're not going to put that baby in danger."

"And you're not going to tell me what to do!"

"You starting to sound like our daughter," he said icily. "Where will you possibly fit into the plan that was molded by _you _and the scouts at the spur of the moment? It was specifically made for the _scouts_ to handle and engage in. You have no place there."

"Endymion!"

"Listen to me!" he barked, slamming his fist down on to the table causing the silverware across the whole piece of furniture to shake. "I don't want you going out there where she could do so much damage to you! Do you understand me?" The scouts stared widely as the couple openly argued in front of them. Darien stood up to his feet and threw his napkin over his plate, "Now _I'm_ the bad guy… the bad guy with no appetite."

He turned away from the group and swiftly walked out of the room, passing by his rushing daughter as he did. She looked at him with her mouth slightly agape at his angered façade. Before she could close her mouth, her mother went running passed her, probably to go get her father. She turned back to the group of shocked looking scouts. The one who did catch her eye, Hotaru, patted the seat next to her.

"Lover's quarrel," Mina sighed as she shook her head and started to dig into her waffles. The rest of the group joined in quickly after her in order to erase the awkward silence.

Serena went running through the palace, her lungs huffing and puffing for air even more so than earlier that night when they had their passionate rendezvous. Her husband always did this; when he wanted to disappear, he would, but where to was a whole other story. She searched in their bedroom, in the upper north-east tower, in the servant's quarters, but she couldn't find him. That's when she thought of going to the garden. He was probably at that damn gazebo, waiting for her to appear. Clenching her fists at her side, she tensely started to walk out into the garden. She wasn't ready yet. That gazebo meant she had forgiven for him for what he had done; it meant that they were back to the love they had shared for centuries. She couldn't force herself to do that yet. She didn't feel it was time.

"Hey."

The queen turned to her right to find Darien sitting on the edge of a fountain, playing with the fish. He squinted a bit in the harsh sunlight and gestured for her to come toward him.

"Where were you headed to?" he asked.

"The gazebo. I thought you would be there," she answered quietly.

"No," he said simply. "This is not a moment to be shared there."

"Darien I—"

He held his palm out to her and stopped her from speaking. He stood up and walked toward her. Once he was right in front of her he was shadowing the sunlight from her face so she didn't have to wrinkle her forehead anymore to get a good visual of him.

"I don't want to be you parent," he said calmly. "I want to be your partner, your lover, your husband, and the father of your children. But in order for me to be that, you need to tell me things that are on your mind, tell me important things that are going on, and help protect our offspring."

"You are biologically the father of my children, you are still surprisingly and legally bound as my husband, you were my lover last night, and we have yet to establish if I am ready to have you back as my full-blown partner," she replied with just as much poise and precision with her words as he had had. "I love you Darien, but that doesn't mean I've forgiven you."

"At this point, I really don't care if you forgive me. I just want you to be safe. It's just like how you want Rini to listen and be safe with you." He tilted his head a little to the side, "Just because you are carrying a new child shouldn't mean I need to treat you like one. Think of someone other than yourself, Serena."

"You're one to talk," she scoffed.

"And I've learned my lesson which is why I'm telling this to you now."

He rubbed her bare shoulders and she casually fell into an embrace with him. She shut her eyes tight and sighed as he rocked gently side to side. They were going to have a long, enduring day trying to get through the last-minute whipped up plan. The only way Serena was going to keep herself together was if Darien was by her side.

* * *

**Up next: The scouts follow through with their plan. Will it work?**


	15. Chapter 15: Prayer

The hits just keep on coming! Here's the next installment of this story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 15: Prayer**

The tapping noise filtered through the room alongside the chirping from outside the widow. Seiya was leaning against the sill, his leg shaking in a rather disruptive rhythm as he waited in the same quarters that he had seen her the night before. _Serenity_. She had grown up considerably. Her curves had filled out a little more after having a child and her breasts had become fuller. He didn't even say a word to her when she greeted him and his fellow Sailor Stars. How could he?! Endymion was in the room. Seiya had been afraid that if any words had fallen from his mouth, he would have surely been decked.

"You called for me?"

He snapped out of his gaze that he had drifted into and gasped at the sight of Neo-Queen Serenity. She wasn't in her usual formal royal gown; instead she had slipped into a skintight black cat suit that ran from her ankles to her wrists and sleeveless white leather dress with a zipper all the way up to the neck, but it stopped directly at her cleavage, exposing the peeking curves coming out of the dipping v-neck from the sheer undergarment. She blushed, noticing that he was looking at her chest and immediately zipped her dress up a little bit higher. Seiya blinked, trying to get his head together.

"I was in such a hurry to get down to the control room that I didn't have time to zip myself all the way up it seems," she giggled. "I must say, I've never been beckoned like that before. Only the king asks for my presence. Otherwise I'm the one who calls the shots."

"I apologize your majesty," he replied as he stepped toward her and bowed.

"It's refreshing," she grinned. "What did you need to speak to me about, Seiya? We must be quick. The scouts are leaving soon for their attack and I need to see them off."

"Your majesty, are you happy?" he asked.

She was taken aback by this question and automatically answered, "Yes, of course I am…. A little nervous, maybe, but happiness is a constant flowing emotion that I find myself in all the time."

"You're pregnant, aren't you?"

"Yes, but we still haven't announced it to the press."

"Is it the king's child?"

"Of course."

"But he cheated on you."

"What are you getting at Seiya?"

"You aren't happy yet," he declared as he stepped toward her, closing the gap between slowly. "You are putting on a mask for the rest of the world so that no one will discover your true pain. You did this when Darien was lost. You forgot about it."

"I haven't _forgotten_ that he betrayed my trust," she commented. "I haven't fully forgiven him."

"Yet you are carrying another child by him and you made love with him last night."

"Are you spying on me?!" she asked incredulously. "If so, I will have you and the other Sailor Stars removed from this palace immediately."

"No, I don't need to spy. Your lips are flushed a different color and your skin is glowing brighter than normal."

"I'm leaving," she declared as she spun around on her foot and started to breeze out of the room.

"Do you love him?"

Serena stopped in her tracks and looked at the Sailor Star over her shoulder. Tears were streaming down her face as she nodded, "Yes. That's why this hurts so much." He started to come for her and she stopped him with a raise of her hand, "Don't. I've cried too much over his unfaithfulness, over this child, over these hormones, and over the fear that I'll lose everything in the blink of an eye."

She scrubbed the tears off of her face and left Seiya to stand in the den by himself. Once she had traveled all the way down the stairs and out of sight, Darien swooped into the room, startling Seiya.

"How long have you been out there?!" he asked.

"Long enough to hear you give my wife the third degree," he answered coolly as he rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. "I saw the way you were looking at her last night."

"And I've seen the way you've been treating her for the last few months," he retorted.

"You don't know everything about our relationship."

"I know enough. I know that she went to the depths of space and evil in order to get you back into her life and then you repaid her by breaking her heart."

"So that's it? It's all or nothing in this situation? No compromise? No working at it?" Darien inquired. "Have you ever been married Seiya?"

"No."

"Then you wouldn't understand."

"I've been in love though."

"With who?"

"You know the answer to that question already."

The two men stood face to face, glaring at one another. Darien stood a few inches taller than Seiya and was bit buffer than he was as well. Although rage was simmering slowly for this scout in front of him, he had to pull back and return to the control room. The king sauntered out of the den with his hands shoved in his pockets. Seiya watched him as he left and did his best to not sucker punch him from behind. The queen deserved so much better.

* * *

Michiru leaned up against the seat of the car, pleasantly surprised that Haruka was actually going the speed limit. She placed her hands behind her head as she watched the city buildings glide passed her window at a regular pace. Her blue eyes slid over to her lover who was concentrating on moving along with the rest of the Sunday slow drivers.

"I hate traffic," Haruka growled lowly.

"But look at what can happen when you stop."

She leaned over and grabbed the feisty blonde by the collar, planting a kiss on her sweet lips. Haruka swiftly placed a hand on her partner's cheek while her other hand was on the steering wheel. Her eyes shut for a split second when suddenly a loud beeping noise interrupted their intimate moment. The two laughed happily and she returned back to the road.

"Are you guys almost there?" Darien asked through the mini screen on the passenger's side.

"We'll be there in about ten minutes," Haruka answered with her eyes still glued to the red brake lights that kept her at a standstill. "You know how people are on Sundays. They all gather to church around this time in order to go and worship Serenity."

"I still can't get used that," she said behind Darien in the control center.

"Let us know when you arrive," he instructed them. "When you guys get to the location, transform into older women so that no one recognizes you."

"Do we have to be old?" Michiru asked.

"Quit being so vain, Mich! It'll be fun!" Haruka beamed.

"You realize, you'll have to be super slow, possibly hunched over and rickety, right?"

"Hell no! I'm going to be one of those cool older women who wear track suits!"

"Guys! Please!" Darien snapped through the small visual intercom. "So listen, you'll go in, do the whole prayer service, listen to the preacher, you know how it goes. Search for any signs of Stella while you're in there. Ami and Mina will be scaling to the rooftop searching for her as people enter. Lita and Rei are going to be investigating in the basement. So are we clear?"

"Yes sir!" they answered in unison.

They finally made it to the church in not ten, but twenty minutes. Traffic had backed up thickly because of a steaming accident caused by some idiot teenager who wasn't paying attention to how hard his foot was laying on the gas peddle. They contacted King Endymion and told him that they had arrived. The two outer scouts morphed in the car where the windows were tinted so darkly that no one could even tell who was in there. Haruka was an older long white-haired woman with thick sunglasses and a bright cerulean blue track suit. Michiru changed into a classy looking woman with a designer skirt suit, a silk Hermes scarf and large matching designer bag.

Her lover passed a look of confusion and slight disgust, "What is _that_ getup?"

"I'm a classy older woman with a wealthy husband," she replied snobbishly. "This is how I imagined myself to be when I was younger."

"You wanted to have a _husband_ when you were younger?" Haruka replied, arching an eyebrow.

"Or a wife. A significant other," she corrected. "Then I grew up and realized I just wanted you."

Even behind the new eyes she had acquired, Haruka could see that she was serious. It warmed her heart to know that. But she couldn't last in these beautiful little moments. The two of them climbed out of the car and walked up to the tall glass cathedral. It was shaped like the Crystal Palace on the moon except for the golden tower jetting out of it with silver bells ringing at the top. Haruka removed her sunglasses to squint up at the top of the tower; she couldn't see Mina or Ami which was a good sign.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" a silky voice side from behind.

The two older masked women turned around to find Stella dressed in a white and gold tweed designer jacket and a short black skirt with a pair of glistening black high heels. She was certainly dressed to kill.

"I've never seen something so gorgeous," Michiru smiled, keeping up appearances. "Minus the lovely castle on the moon, but I've only seen pictures of it."

"It's a beaut," Haruka said curtly. She gestured to the pathway leading to the inside, "Shall we?"

The three of them walked inside the glistening temple and took in the high ceilings, the large array of white candles glowing all around the perimeter and the giant statue of Neo-Queen Serenity with her hand on her heart holding a rose signifying her love for life, her husband, and the world itself. It was awe inspiring.

"People from all over come here just to see that sculpture of the queen," Stella said calmly as she sat down in a pew. "It was hand crafted by a famous artist."

"Who?" Michiru asked, leaning over a little bit.

Stella merely pointed to the woman coming out to the podium. The pastor and amazing artist was none other than Molly Osaka, Serena's friend from middle school. She had grown up into a ravishing young woman and was well known around the world for her artistic creativity. She had met with Serena once before she had been deemed queen of Crystal Tokyo and then several times after that for paintings, sculptures, and firsthand accounts of the adventures that lead up to the creation of their world. The very painting in the den of the Golden Palace was done by her as were a few other trinkets that were placed in both the earth and moon residencies of the king and queen. People admired her for her precision and the way she could make Serenity look like she was glowing even when she was made out of stone.

Molly waited for people to quiet down before she started to preach the word of Serenity and all that was peaceful. The audience listened with smiles on their faces as she told the story of how Sailor Saturn was discovered and created many centuries ago. Haruka and Michiru let the memory of that time flood their minds, but they did their best to make sure it didn't leak out in tears down their face. No one else seemed to understand the pain that came with destroying a whole entire kingdom.

When service was over, Molly told people to walk over to the perimeters of the room and light a candle for peace, harmony, and for Neo-Queen Serenity. Michiru and Haruka did just that, but kept their eye on Stella as she went to go and speak to Molly. The pastor placed a hand on her back and led her into some back room of the cathedral.

"They've gone out of our sight," Haruka whispered into her little brooch that served as both a communicator to the control room as well as camera so that they could see all that was going on.

"Mercury, do you have a visual?" Darien asked.

Up on the top of the bell tower where Ami and Mina were perched, she was scanning the area with her digitized visor. She shook her head and reported back, "Negative, I can't get one. We're too high up."

There was a bit of silence and tension filled the few minutes of waiting. Everyone was patiently wondering if either Mercury was going to see what was going on or if one of the highly disguised scouts downstairs was going to see Stella exit the preacher's quarters.

"I—wait a minute!"

"What?! What is it?" Mina asked.

"Someone is coming up the bell tower!"

"Do you think it's just the person who rings the bells?"

"It's 11:17," she said, "the time is supposed to rung in at the top of the hour and the half hour. There's no need for someone to—"

She was suddenly cut off by the loud ringing noise of the large bells that she and Mina were sitting above. They covered their ears and shrieked a little bit as the whole tower shook. The two ran to the edge of the tower and jumped down, swinging their bodies into the opening where the bells were swerving back and forth. They maneuvered their way around the mammoth metal singing instruments and tried to find out who had started the earth shattering music.

"There!" Venus exclaimed, pointing to a black cloaked figure running down the stairs.

The scouts ran after the person down the long spiraling staircase, trying their best to catch up with them. Mina hugged onto the railing and let herself slide down ahead of the culprit and trapped them with Ami behind. She still couldn't see their face though because then the next thing they knew, the perpetrator leapt off of the stairs, over the railing and down straight through the opening that the spiral gave. Venus followed suit with Mercury right behind her telling Darien and Serena what was going on. They chased the person out into the street where one part was a dead end and the opened up space was blocked by a wide-nosed Lamborghini sports car that was being driven by Sailor Uranus and was growling loudly.

"You think you have me?" Stella asked, throwing her hood back.

She tried to run toward the alley way where there was an escape route to the sewers, but Sailor Jupiter and Mars came out with weapons of their element in their hands. Stella held her hands up a little, as if to surrender, but she had a broad and evil grin on her face.

"Touch me and I detonate this whole church," she announced. "The pastor is still in there, innocent people are still in there, and all the while the big red button is in my hand. Don't you dare take a step toward me."

Backing up to the center of the circle that the scouts had made around her, she exposed the joystick looking detonator in her hand, but this one had multiple buttons on it which meant she had multiple bombs.

"Ami, I thought you scanned the whole premises for explosives!" Darien exclaimed.

"I did!" she replied. "There wasn't a sign of bombs anywhere!"

"That's because I planted them while in motion," Stella stated. "There's a bomb in one of the bells in the bell tower, one against the wall of the tower, one in the pastor's chambers, and the largest of them all on Serenity's statue." She glared at each and every one of the scouts as she asked, "Now which one will I choose?"

Mars tightened her grip on her fiery bow and arrow which Stella could hear and she looked over her shoulder at the raven haired scout, "Don't do it." She pressed one of the buttons and suddenly a loud rumbling noise came from the top of the tower. The bells exploded and flew off in all directions. One of them came down onto the speedy car that Uranus and Neptune were in; they had bolted out before the ringing, metal instrument crushed the vehicle. Another bell landed on the steps leading up to the cathedral, trapping the innocent bystanders inside while the last two crashed into a building across the street.

Stella noticed Sailor Venus pulling out her chain, wanting to try and use it to grab her, but she coyly said, "I studied your tactics; that won't work." She pressed another button and another grumble went pulsating through the street as the rest of the tower crumbled down into fire and rubble. "I told you not to come near me, not to test me and then you do just that." Stella put a slender, long nailed hand on her hip and she cocked her head as she sighed, "I'm getting kind of tired of this standstill. You all bore me. Let me know when that white-haired ghoul wants to fight me. I'll be ready for her."

She pushed another button, the one that was set to blow up the pastor's chambers, and then pressed one more which resulted in an explosion right in front of her body, encasing her in smoke. When it cleared, the scouts found that she had disappeared completely. Ami was trying to track down whether or not she had run away down into the sewer system while Mars, Venus, Jupiter, and Uranus ran to the church to inspect the damage. Haruka used her powers of the wind to move the bell that was five times her height to the end of the road while Jupiter kicked down the door and got everyone outside. Mina made sure no one was left inside the church while Mars went to go search for Molly. Rei climbed over the wreckage of the office, pushing back flaming books, broken glass, and shattered wooden pieces. She heard a moan coming from under a pile of debris and quickly used her powers to blast through it. The hole she had created showed the upper body of Molly who looked weak and beat up.

"Don't worry Molly, we'll get you out of here!" Rei declared. She shouted over her shoulder for some assistance, "Hey! I could use some help over here!"

"Coming!" Mina replied as she rushed over to help Mars remove the pastor from the wreckage.

Lita had guided people away from the church and told them to head home immediately while Michiru was looking into her mirror, trying to track down where Stella could have possibly gone.

"There's no sign of her," she announced as Ami nodded in agreement. "Only smoke remains in my mirror."

Haruka examined the statue inside, trying to figure out how to remove it without setting it off. A red digital timer was ticking away quickly, leaving only two minutes for her to remove it. She could feel the sweat drip down her forehead as she started to become anxious and confused. Ami sprinted up behind her and examined the bomb with her.

"I don't believe it!" she gasped.

"What?" Uranus asked.

"She built an explosive without wires to kill it!" she replied as she typed into her mini computer, trying to figure out if something was amiss in the x-ray. Sure enough everything was in tact. Stella had built a villain's perfect weapon. "We've got to get Molly out of here as soon as possible and contain the area! Now!"

Mina and Rei were helping the broken down artist stumble out of ruins when Haruka ran up and scooped her into her arms. They all started to run outside into the street and Ami looked over at Lita, "Can you create a force field to hold back the explosion so it doesn't do any more damage?"

"Hells ya I can!" Lita grinned.

The scout braced herself as she waited for the clock to count down. She started to create a spherical cage of bolts of lightning and once the bomb beeped loudly and went off, she was able to hold it in under the electric dome. She struggled slightly to keep it down and even let out a few grunts and then a scream as she pushed down the large blast. After a full two minutes of this, Lita successfully held back the gargantuan, fiery discharge and removed her shield. There was nothing but pieces of melted glass and a large, smoking hole where the foundation used to be.

"No…" Molly whimpered as tears streamed down her face. She clung with grief onto Sailor Uranus who tightened her grip around the sobbing preacher.

"We should take her to the hospital," Michiru declared.

"With what? Another great car of ours is totaled," Haruka replied. "I will not use another nice car for a mission."

Sirens started to fill the air and the scouts walked toward the flashing cop cars and ambulance. Molly was transported to the emergency room while the scouts stayed behind and explained everything to the police.

* * *

**Up next: Trying to devise another plan to get Stella. This woman is slippery than a wet eel…**


	16. Chapter 16: Faith

Thanks for all of the reviews you guys! Here's the next chapter. It's a stepping stone for the next one which is going to be the second to last in this arc. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 16: Faith**

"She's still out there," Serena said grimly as she leaned up against the control board.

The room was wide and open with large screens covering the wall in front of them. There were key boards, buttons, knobs, levers, and speaker boxes all across a long silver panel. Multiple chairs were placed all along it for when the scouts had to keep an eye on the palace, but most of them were empty. Luna and Artemis sat on the board with head sets on while Diana was perched in a chair watching them do their job. Rini and Hotaru were standing in the back of the room watching the screen and keeping silent the whole time. It was a life lesson for both of them to watch what was going on.

"We can still catch her," Luna reassured Serena as she pushed her headset off with her paw. "It's not the end yet."

"That witch keeps slipping through our fingers. How could we let this happen?!" she exclaimed. "She nearly killed a bunch of innocent people and one of my oldest friends! And for what?! To get back at me? To get Darien to notice her again?" She whipped around and shouted at him, "You sure know how to pick them, don't you?! What is it? Crazy in the head, crazy in bed? Huh?!"

"Serena, you're getting hysterical," he replied calmly as he removed his headset and swirled around in his chair to face her.

"Don't tell me what I'm doing!" she screamed.

He stood up and towered over her, "Want to hit me? Go on. It wouldn't be the first time."

"Darien, Rini is—"

"She's seen worse."

"King," Hotaru said tentatively.

"You just don't get it, do you?!" Serena asked as she ignored Hotaru's gaze and clenched her fists.

"You're mad. I get that," he answered simply.

She let out an enraged grunt and pushed him away from her. He stumbled backwards and luckily fell back into his chair. She spun around and stormed out of the room with the rest of them simply staring at her in shock. Her outbursts were becoming more frequent the further along in her pregnancy she became.

Darien was about to go after her, when Luna said, "Let her be. She needs some alone time I think."

He flopped back down in his chair and placed his head in his hands. Rini strolled up to her father, bent over, and embraced him tightly. He hugged her back, closing his eyes as he did. His daughter hadn't actually shown any true signs of affection in months. This was a moment he was willing to relish in for as long as it would last.

* * *

Serena sat down on the stone bench and covered her face with her hands. She had decided to get lost in the labyrinth made of shrubbery they had in the garden. She didn't want to be found by anyone at the moment as the sun sunk below the horizon. There was a crunching noise in front of her which made her angered, wet eyes drift up above her fingertips. Seiya was standing in front her, his head tilted slightly to the side in a concerned sort of fashion.

"Why are you crying, your majesty?"

"Confusion. Hurt. Anger. Depression. Heartbreak. Longing. Love," she listed. "Take your pick at any one of the emotions and it'll pin-point how I'm feeling."

He knelt down and placed a warm hand on her nylon covered knee, "You shouldn't be like this. Not when a baby is on the way."

"Too late," she shrugged as tears forced their way out of her eyes. "The only way to get passed this is if we catch that malevolent woman!"

He slipped his hand over her flaring red cheek and asked her, "How would you feel if King Endymion died tomorrow."

"Dreadful… guilty."

"Would you care if Stella was caught?"

"I'd probably be too numb to care."

"You love him."

"To the depths of my soul."

"Then let the scouts do their job. You and your family should return to Crystal Tokyo. Let us all take care of what needs to be done," he explained. "You're restless, I understand that. Use that energy and put it into your daughter. She could use you right now."

She nodded as she wiped the tears away from her cheeks. Seiya leaned forward and kissed the crescent moon on her forehead before getting up. He held a hand out to her which she gladly took and strung her arm through his as they ambled back to the palace through the maze.

* * *

Before Serena decided to leave the Earth though, she went to go visit Molly in the hospital. She made sure that her room was filled with bellflowers which meant "thinking of you" and marigolds which signified pain and sorrow. Serena always found it strange that such a plant that looked like a firework would mean something so depressing.

Her old friend from back in her mortal days looked pretty good for just going through a whole fiasco of explosions and chaos. The pastor only had a broken leg that was held up in a contraction, a broken arm in a sling, and small gash on the back of her head as well as being dotted with a few bruises here and there. Serena grasped onto her hand and beamed down at her.

"Your majesty," Molly croaked.

"You know you can call me Serena," she said, holding the tears back. "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Much better," she answered. "I've been preparing for my release at the end of the week. I want to get back to work and create another sculpture of you to replace the one that was destroyed."

"You don't have to do that."

"Yes I do. Your job, Queen, is to protect us all and hold us all in unity. My job is to produce images that people want to see."

"I admire you for you resilience."

"You're the one who inspired me to be like this."

Serenity gazed deeply into Molly's eyes before asking quietly, "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I would be honored," she breathed. Molly sat up in bed and Serena propped up her pillows for her. She took a sip of water before starting to tell her story, "I was ending the tale about Saturn's creation and I told everyone to light a candle for you and the royal family. That dark haired woman came up to me and asked if she could speak with me in my office about the gospel word of the moon; she acted like she was confused. I directed her into my chambers and we started to discuss candidly about the origins of the scouts and their powers before she slapped some handcuffs over my wrists." She exposed her bruised wrists to her queen before continuing, "She stole my cloak, placed a ticking digital clock on my wall and was out of sight. Before I knew it, I heard the bells ringing and then something that sounded like an earthquake. I was chained to my desk, but I was able to crouch down underneath anyways in order to protect myself. When the walls came tumbling down on me, I called out for help and one of your sailor scouts, Mars I believe, came to my rescue."

Serena brushed away a single tear that had fallen down her face and tightened her grip on her friend's hand, "Thank you for telling me all of this Molly. I promise you we will get this treacherous woman."

"I know you will. My faith in you never wavers," she smiled.

* * *

Four months later…

There still hadn't been any progress in finding Stella or trying to track her down. Every time the scouts thought they had her, she found a way to slither out of their clutches. It was annoying and aggravating, but the royal family had other matters to attend to. Serena needed to take care of her body and her current teenage daughter for now while Darien was all about politics and dealing with other planets in the midst of all of this chaos. The Sailor Stars found themselves to be rather useless and decided to return to their homes. They told the scouts to contact them again if they needed anything else or any assistance. The queen felt rather alone during the day time when she had nothing to do, but then when she felt a kick or two from the child inside her, she was reminded that she would never be by herself.

Late one night, Serenity sat up in bed as Endymion walked in with a mug filled with warm milk. She grimaced as she took the cup from him, "There's no point in you doing that. I could have had one of the servants do it for me and you wouldn't have been disrupted."

"But they don't know how to make it like I do," he replied with a glint in his eye. "There's a touch of cinnamon and vanilla extract. Drink up."

He got back into bed and she grabbed his hand, placing it on her enlarged stomach. He could feel their child kicking wildly. A smile curved his lips and she beamed at him.

"Fidgety, just like yourself," Darien chuckled.

"I hope they have your patience," she said seriously as she rubbed her round hump and drank her milk. "Having one intolerant child is more than enough."

She lay back onto her pillows and handed Darien the half empty glass which he gladly finished the rest of. The two snuggled up against one another and watched the snow trickle down to Crystal Tokyo through their tall windows. The seasons were artificially created so that people felt more comfortable. Serena smiled at the sight of the cold flakes dancing down to the ground.

"A winter baby," she whispered.

"An anniversary baby, you mean," he corrected her.

Serena furrowed her brow and rolled over in an awkward way to face him, "What do you mean?"

"First time we met, remember?"

"It was fall I'm pretty sure," she said. "It was the middle of the semester—"

"No, no, no," he said. "The _very_ first time we met. Think back to our previous life."

She closed her eyes and snuggled up closer to him, "Tell it to me like a story."

"Your mother wanted us to formally be introduced. The Moon Kingdom and the Earth never really came into contact with one another unless it was absolutely necessary," he whispered as he stared out at the glistening Earth that hung in the midnight sky. "I waited with my generals at the front entrance. I thought you were going to be able to see my pounding heart through my armor when you arrived, but you didn't. The queen walked in first. I bowed and waited for you to glide on through. When she announced you, I felt my breath escape from my body. You were glowing … I had never seen a woman do that before upon entering a room. I fell in love.

"You had a white lace umbrella in hand to cover your body from the light ice falling from the sky. You greeted us warmly and then asked what this strange phenomenon was. I said it was snow and just looked at me curiously. You were truly from another world…"

"Our baby will love the snow," Serena breathed as she started to drift off to sleep slowly. "They will play in it and have rose-red cheeks."

Darien nodded closed his eyes, feeling the warm milk do its job. They were dragged happily into slumber.

When Serena woke up the next morning, she found that she was alone in bed with a single red rose and a note card in Darien's place. She groggily sat up and flipped open the card which said, "Meet me in the den, dearest. Love Endy."

She sniffed the rose and smiled at the heavy fragrance. The queen climbed out of bed and removed her night gown as she strolled into the bathroom. The shooting water from the shower massaged her aching back. This child was heavy and often times she wondered if she was going to be able to carry them to full term if they continued to gain weight. After drying herself and getting her face and hair fixed up, Serenity slipped into her royal gown which had been specially made for her pregnancy. She looked at her reflection from side-font-side and huffed at the vision before her; she felt like a whale.

"You're pregnant, you're not fat," a voice said from behind.

She looked over to find her daughter leaning up against the bathroom door.

"Small Lady, don't you knock?" Serenity said in an exasperated tone as she walked out of the bathroom. "I swore I taught you manners…"

"Papa sent me to come get you," she announced.

"I was just on my way to see him."

"Are you going to discuss my coming of age party?"

"What your father and I discuss is none of your concern until we approach you," she replied with an arched eyebrow as she exited her quarters.

Serena waddled down the hallway with Rini at her side, bugging her about the prospect of a ball. She silently prayed to the gods and goddesses that she wouldn't have another child who incessantly whined, complained, and irritated her. She knew her patience level had dropped due to having a whole knew body growing inside her, but her daughter was all too consumed in her own dilemmas. When they arrived to the king's den, he immediately dropped the report he was reading and stood up. He breezed over to his wife and kissed her good morning. His eyes drifted over to their daughter who was still complaining up a storm.

"Mommy please?! Everyone else has had their coming of age party!" she wailed. "I'm sixteen! I'm the laughingstock of the whole teenage court!"

"Rini," Darien said in his warning tone, "what did I tell you?"

She crouched over and placed her hands behind her back as she lowered her head, "Don't upset Mom."

"And why did I tell you this?"

"Because it's stressful to carry a baby."

"_And_?"

"And it's stressful to carry a whole universe on your shoulders especially when you're pregnant."

"Good," he nodded. "Please leave the room. I'll meet with you after breakfast for your healing lesson."

"Yes Father," she bowed. She took a step toward her mother to kiss her cheek and then kiss her stomach.

Once she left, Serena felt herself feel relieved. Darien rubbed her shoulders and massaged her neck; an immediate groan of satisfaction escaped from her mouth as he did this. A smirk covered his lips while pushing her gently toward the chair that sat in front of a table where their breakfast was laid out. He continued to rub her shoulders as she closed her eyes and leaned forward.

"Was I this big before?" she moaned.

"Honest answer?"

"Honest answer, please."

"No. Rini came out premature though."

"That's just it! I wasn't this big when I was even this far along with her! I'm only seven and half months and I feel like I should be giving birth already. It's uncomfortable," she said as he continued to dig his hands gently into her sore muscles.

"It'll be over soon," he said through gritted teeth as he tried to rub out a knot that had formed in her back. "And then you'll go through your crying phase of post-partum depression."

"I'm just a jar full of the worst emotions," she growled.

"And I treasure you all the same," he chuckled as he kissed her temple and then went to go sit in the chair across from her at the table. "So, about—"

"Hold on."

Serena's ears pricked at a noise from outside. She was about to push herself out of her chair when Darien bid her not to. She silently pointed to the door and he took a few long strides across the room toward it. He swung it open to find the pink-haired princess pressing her ear against the thick wooden barrier. She blushed profusely and stumbled to stand up straight.

"Serena you have amazing hearing," he grinned as he kept his steel eyes on his daughter.

"I'd like to think it's more intuition rather than hearing," she said.

"Hotaru!" Darien called out. Sailor Saturn quickly but with ease came to Rini's side and turned her attention to the king. "Would you be so kind as to place a silence barricade around this room and then escort the princess to her morning breakfast?"

"Yes, your majesty," she bowed.

The dark-eyed girl bent down, placing her palms flat on the ground and slowly raising them up as a thin, glowing wall started to emanate from her hands. She smoothly finished the fence of silence with great ease and watched as any trace of it disappeared. A small smile dropped onto her face as she signaled to the king. He closed the door behind himself and strolled back to his seat.

"I'm really glad she hasn't left," Serena said through her partially filled mouth of eggs and bacon.

"Do you miss the others?" he asked.

The queen could only nod to him. Upon tending to the Stella dilemma, the scouts hadn't been able to visit the queen as much as she would have liked. Each of them had seen her maybe once or twice. She had been lucky enough to see Mina three times during the months they spent apart. Recently, the women had received distress calls from their home planets, each one more bizarre than the last. Mercury said there were people rioting in the streets of twenty-seven major cities across the globe. Jupiter said a major earthquake had hit her capital. Mina couldn't believe this, but a chief bank that held most of the economy together on her home planet had gone bankrupt some how. Rei said that although the people of Mars were still as rowdy as ever, they were breaking out into a major civil war that wasn't expected. Sailor Uranus was having troubles with her parliamentary government; no one was passing a damn law and the people were getting anxious. Michiru said a huge natural disaster had crashed onto her planet Neptune and close to a million people had died because of it. Pluto had to keep guard of the Gate of Time so Neptune and Uranus bounced from their planet to hers _and_ to Saturn to see how things were progressing there. Major resources were dwindling on Saturn while on Pluto an epidemic of a rather curious disease was spreading across the planet. All of these encounters were rather suspicious, thus Luna and Artemis investigated each incident carefully, trying to discover some sort of connection. So far, they couldn't find anything.

"So as I was saying before we were interrupted by our daughter," he smiled, "what would you like to do about Rini's 'becoming an adult' party? We have to introduce her as a true lady of the royal court soon. Like, you know, before your water breaks unexpectedly."

"I was thinking we could do it next week," Serena said calmly as she bit into her buttered toast. "I have been make arrangements during the afternoon—"

"When you're supposed to be taking a nap and not worrying about anything?"

"Yes, exactly," she replied cattily. "I've scheduled for caterers, florists, a band, and asked the head mistress of the servant board to figure out who will set up the ballroom."

"And you did this all from our bedroom when I was away in the afternoon?" he asked.

"I was laying down the whole time," she beamed. "The final thing we need to do is figure out the guest list."

"How about just everyone is invited?"

"Yeah, right, that'll go over really well with our finicky daughter," Serena commented as she finished up her bacon and then reached over for a thick, fluffy, strawberry pancake. "It needs to be specific and have some exclusivity."

"Okay, well, the scouts—"

"If they can make it."

"Right," Darien agreed. "And I suppose the whole teenage court?"

"What did I just tell you?" she asked. "Not everyone can be invited."

"But I have connections with their parents! They'll be offended!" he said indignantly as he cut through his pancakes.

"I'll let Rini handle the guest list," she said with a wave of her hand. They paused for a while as they continued to eat and then Serena looked up from her plate, her eyes gliding slowly over at her husband, "I have a question…"

"Yes?"

"What about Helios?"

"The guardian of Elysion?"

"Darling, there's only one Helios that we know, please."

"Well, what about him?"

"I want to invite him secretly," she giggled.

Darien shoved a piece of his cinnamon pancake into his mouth and knitted his brow at her, "Why?"

"Do you know how long our daughter has had a crush on him?"

"Since she was in like second grade. What's your point?"

She shook her head in disbelief, "After all these years of being in love, you still don't recognize it unless it's right in front of your face. Our daughter loves him."

"No she doesn't."

"Yes she does."

"No she doesn't."

"_Yes_, she does!" Serenity said with some finality. "I still see her draw Pegasus doodles in her notebooks and write out the name 'Mrs. Helios' all over blank sheets of paper as though she was practicing her signature. She wants to see him and we haven't permitted her to go down to Elysion ever in her life so I thought this would be a good excuse to invite him up."

"Who do you expect to protect the holy land of Elysion?"

"Do you read the reports given to you or do you just act like you've got something important to do?" Serena retorted. "Helios has deemed Pegasus to protect the land. Your Golden Crystal does most of the work when it comes to providing that place with a defense system. Now a days, Helios just tends to the inner palace and watches over you."

"How did you get all of this information and I didn't?" Darien asked as he placed his empty plate on the tray.

"Beats me," she shrugged as she started to reach for another large, bulky pancake.

Her husband stopped her by blocking her fork with his knife as he remarked, "And you wonder why this baby is so heavy?"

"It's hungry! I have to feed it. I don't get to eat anything I want to. It's all them," she said as she looked down at her bulging stomach. "I haven't been able to eat pudding, no blueberries, the thought of basil makes my feet swell, and smell of cayenne pepper makes me feel sick. When I finally can eat something that this little rug rat likes, I eat as much to my heart's content."

He moved his knife away and let her dig into another pancake. While she wolfed down her food, he began to wonder silently what the child would look like. Serena had strictly forbidden anyone except the doctor to look at the sonogram. She didn't want to know the sex of the child and didn't want to see what it looked like. She said it was because she didn't want to put any pretenses on the baby when it hasn't even entered their world yet. At first sight, a child is already burdened with so many hopes, fears, and probabilities that it will be a great ruler. That's what happened with Rini when she was first born and then when she stopped growing, she was teased, made fun of, and eventually grew rather depressed. Darien speculated if maybe those troubled times were the reason she turned to turn to the dark side during that period of time. It was good for her to finally be making friends, talking to boys, and over all socializing in their tumultuous world.

"Do you want to tell Rini about the ball or should I?" Darien asked. His wife answered through her pancakes, but he couldn't understand a word that came out of her over-stuffed mouth. "I'm sorry, what?"

She held up an index finger, signaling that he wait a moment for her to finish munching on her food and swallow. After a full minute of all of this, she finally answered in a breathless tone, "You should do it. You have your lesson with her next."

"You're sure?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because it'll make me look like the good guy again," he smirked.

"You're always the good guy," she mumbled.

The two finished breakfast and went off on their separate ways. Serena went back to her bedroom where Luna was waiting with a smile on her furry face. She sat down on the bed and cuddled with her companion, hoping to get some relaxation finally. The black cat climbed up on top of Serena's engorged stomach and purred loudly, thinking the vibrations would soothe the child inside.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and Rini came running in with a wide smile cutting across her face, "You've really set everything up for next week Mama?!"

Gathering her composure, she nodded fervently, "Yes dear, I have."

"Thank you Mother! Thank you!!"

Her daughter threw her arms around her neck and squeezed her tight. Luna was pushed off to the side by the greedy princess, but she didn't mind; this was a good moment to be shared. Serena looked up at Darien who was standing at the doorway with his hands in his pockets, giving her an all-knowing gaze. She was the "good guy" now.

* * *

**Up next: Rini's ball!**


	17. Chapter 17: Redemption

This is quite a long chapter, but that's because just about everything is explained and all is coming to a close. There will be a prologue following. I hope you all enjoy the final chapter in this adventure! ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own any Sailor Moon characters

* * *

**Chapter 17: Redemption**

Serena groaned as she waited for Darien to finish getting dressed. Standing was becoming more of a chore than anything else these days. Her back was killing her, her feet didn't fit in any of her favorite shoes, and she always felt short of breath; these were the easy symptoms. Cramps were starting to dig their ugly nails into her lower pelvic region and as one day passed the next, they became a bit more intense. Her rib cages felt like they were being crushed like a closing accordion and her bladder was the size of a piece of rice.

When Endymion walked out of the closet, he held his arm out to his wife who growled as she grabbed onto it, "I am in a foul mood. I don't _want_ to mingle with people. I just want to lie down and wait for this baby to come."

"You have to make an appearance Serena."

"It's our daughter's party, not mine!"

"You put it together."

"Ow!" She paused in the middle of the hallway and gripped tightly onto her stomach. She looked down at her watermelon sized belly and said, "Stop it! Mommy doesn't like it when you kick that hard!"

"You think it actually listens to you?" Darien asked as they started to move again.

"They have to hear something, right?"

When they arrived at the entrance of the ballroom, they were greeted by the scouts. They were all able to make it from their respective planets for Rini's ball which was a huge relief for Serena. She didn't think she could get through the night without them. Even Setsuna was able to make an appearance. She waved hello to them all as they gasped and gaped at how large she had gotten. Her eyes rolled as Mina and Lita bent down and started to rub her stomach.

"You're growing so fast!" Ami exclaimed.

"You mean I'm growing so _fat_," the queen replied as she patted her stomach.

"When's the due date?" Setsuna asked.

"Can't you tell? I should be giving birth now," she smirked.

"Are you excited?" Michiru quipped.

"Yes," she nodded. "I want to get my old body back!" As they prepared to go into the ballroom, Serena grabbed Darien's hand and placed it at the bottom of her large mound, "It really hurts. Can you calm the baby down?"

He nodded and looked over at the guards, signaling that they wait to open the doors. He then averted his gaze to Rini, "Small Lady, come here. Help your Papa heal her. Perfect example of the lessons I've been teaching you." The princess swooped over to her mother's womb and placed her hands on one side of the queen's tummy while the king had his hands pressed gently on the other side. The two of them closed their eyes and a glowing sensation consumed where the pain was emanating from. Serena sighed loudly and felt herself grow more relaxed.

"There," Darien smiled as he stood back up to his feet and kissed his wife on her temple. "Feel better?" She just hugged him as a response. He told the guards to open the doors and the scouts started to walk out into the large, crowded ballroom. They cheered first for the outer scouts, then the inner, and then whopping shouts came as the king and queen were presented to the audience. But nothing matched the applause of the princess being introduced as a true lady of the night.

Neo-Queen Serenity walked up to her daughter and beamed at her, "We have a surprise for you, Rini."

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

"Helios!" Darien called out.

"What?!"

The slender princess spun around and found the tall and dashing young protector of the holy land Elysion sauntered through the doors. He wasn't in the usual sleek, flowing temple outfit that she remembered him in; instead he had slipped into a quintessential black tuxedo with a silver bowtie. She felt her skin turn pink as she blushed profusely at the sight of him. He strolled toward her casually, bowed, and then took her gloved hand. Helios was about to kiss it when she stopped him. She removed her gloves from her wrists and then returned her hand back into his grasp. A grin slowly formed over his face as he pressed his lips onto her skin. A chill showered over her.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, Princess," he said as he stepped back. His golden eyes looked over at the king and he nodded to him, "Your majesty. Thank you for inviting me."

"Don't thank me," he replied, shaking his head, "it was all the queen's doing."

Helios stared at Serenity deeply as he gradually approached her with his hands reaching out toward her stomach. She gladly let him touch her and feel the baby move.

"Healthy … strong," was all he whispered before turning back to Rini and guiding her out to the dance floor where they had their first dance together.

"That kid weirds me out sometimes," Haruka said as she watched the teenagers swirl around the glossy ground.

"I find him endearing," Michiru replied, leaning into her partner.

"He has an old soul," Hotaru said.

The night carried on without a hitch. The crowd weaved in and out on the ballroom floor and even Serena went out to dance slowly with her husband. She kept to the throne for most of the time though and spoke to people from there. When she could feel her stomach growl and the baby growing restless, she decided to get up and go to the buffet for some food. She could tell what she wanted just by looking or sniffing at it. When she picked up a piece of shrimp, she almost thought she was going to throw up all over the table. Her plate was filled with bread, some vegetables, rice, and grilled chicken. Darien walked up behind her and whispered, "That baby has you eating healthy now."

"It's a regular organic freak," she mused before biting into her wild rice. The taste of it made bile rise up in her throat. She took her napkin and spit it out immediately. "Ugh. I guess it doesn't like the rice after all."

"Picky."

"I know," she scowled. "Hey, where's Luna, Artemis and Diana?"

"Control room," he answered as he walked with Serena over to the table that some of the scouts were sitting at. "They're watching over the other planets, still bent on trying to find any connections to all of the disasters."

"They never give up, do they?"

She put her plate on the table when she felt a sharp pain hit her again. A moan escaped from her lips and she bent over a little, holding onto the back of Lita's chair for support. The rest of scouts grew tense while Darien crouched over and held her stomach in his hands, doing his best to try and maybe heal her a bit.

"It's not going to work," she breathed heavily. "I need to lie down."

"Are you okay?" Setsuna asked.

"I'm fine, I just need rest." She turned around to leave and Darien was about to go with her when she stopped him, "No, no. You stay. Our daughter doesn't need both parents gone from her party."

"Are you sure?"

"Please no more questions. Just do as I say!"

She was tired, cranky, and quite annoyed with people not listening to what she had to say anymore. Everyone seemed to expect that they knew better than she did. It was frustrating that she didn't have any control over her body, her emotions, and now she felt like she had no power as queen. She walked up to her daughter who was talking with her friends and kissed her goodnight. Rini hugged her mother tightly – as firm as she could considering how large the queen had become – and then told her to sleep well. Serenity bid her scouts and husband goodnight as she waddled out of the room with an attitude much like an independent toddler.

Darien stared as his wife left the ball and then turned around to find Rini standing behind him. He tossed her a smile and she grabbed his hand as the music changed to a classical slow song. The two bowed and curtseyed to one another before sliding into an easy dance position.

After a moment of music filled silence and making swirls around the floor, Darien started up an awkward conversation, "Do you like Helios?"

"Y-yes," she blushed. There was always a reason to her father's question and she was interested as to what he was getting at with this conversation.

"Would you like him to court you?"

"What about defending the holy land?"

"He's been tending to the inner palace lately instead and the golden crystal has been doing most of the guarding," he explained. "Your mother some how knew all of this and I didn't."

"Mom seems to keep on top of things more when she's under pressure," Rini said.

"Yes she does, doesn't she?" he replied. "You know you're going to have to thank her profusely for putting all of this together. She should be resting more—"

"SCOUTS! ENDYMION!"

The music stopped suddenly and everyone froze for a split second. Darien didn't bother to wait around for any more noise or shouts and bolted out of the room with the scouts trailing behind him. He called over his shoulder to Helios, "Take care of my daughter!"

The scouts morphed as they sprinted with the king to the third floor where he was certain the distressed holler came from. The doors to the Imperial Crystal room were shut, but there was a heavy glow coming from the inside and he could see the shadow of footsteps through the crack under the door. Stella's voice wafted through the air and before he knew it, he was ramming his shoulder up against the door screaming, "SERENITY!"

* * *

Minutes earlier…

As Serena walked down the darkly lit hallway, she caught sight of a tiny, silky black figure race up the staircase passed her bedroom doors; it was Luna.

"Luna?" she called out. The animal didn't answer, possibly didn't hear her, and continued to climb up the stairs. "Luna where are you going?"

Serenity started to follow the frisky feline up the steps, her body trying to resist as much as it could. Her breath was becoming short and heavy as she made it up to the third level where a pair of extra large white French doors stood in front of her. This was where she held the Imperial Crystal and when they were all "sleeping" many years ago, this was the very room where she kept her scouts, her husband, and herself. She knew that Luna liked to come to these quarters for privacy and the calming sensation that the crystal provided. Serena pushed the slightly ajar door all the way open and gasped at the sight in front of her.

"Stella!"

The woman was standing in front of the Imperial Crystal with a sly expression over her features. She couldn't touch the powerful gem due to the force field around it, but she was examining it nonetheless.

"Beautiful," she said quietly, her dark eyes glowing at the very sight of the floating jewelry. She snapped her gaze over to the pregnant queen, "You know, you really need to work on this security system you have in your palace. I was able to slip through _easily_."

"W-we use retina scanning. You have been on watch for—"

"I covered all of the cameras just by throwing a sticky-gum bomb, gassed the guards and removed a pair of eyes from one of them," she explained as she studied her bloodstained finger tips. "It ruined my manicure."

Serenity suddenly felt liquid trickling down her legs and she pulled her skirt up to reveal that her water broke. A deep cramp started to overwhelm her and she crouched down to her knees, huffing and puffing heavily. She shouldn't have been surprised that this child wanted to come early as well; it just seemed to be in the royal nature to be as impatient as possible.

"SCOUTS! ENDYMION!" she shrieked.

Stella walked casually over to doorway and locked it closed, shaking her head, "Oh, no, no, no your majesty. This is between you and me."

Hugging onto her stomach with one hand, she reached out at the Imperial Crystal and it flew to her hand. She gripped tightly onto it and watched as a crystallized, spherical shield wrapped around the area she was at. Stella touched the barrier and was immediately electrocuted deeply, causing her to yelp in frustration.

"That fucking crystal has protected you for the last time!" she snarled.

The enraged woman raised her hands up in the air and black smoke started to swirl in her palms surrounded by black electrical currents. She wasn't just any normal mortal woman; she had practically sold her soul to the big bad daddy down below. Stella had gone to a rural, mossy green, marsh infested area where voodoo was something that the people used to protect themselves and gain powers. It had been the one area where there was a whole village not dedicated to the royal family and their all mighty supremacy. In this town, Stella had met a woman who performed an ancient ritual that gave her powers of her own to fight against – as Stella had described it the mysterious mistress – a wretched woman who had stolen the love that consumed her heart. To say that she was obsessed with Darien was … an understatement. She had gone to the depths of the world to seek vengeance on Neo-Queen Serenity.

* * *

One year ago…

Stella stepped into the little wooden shack with her body drenched in awful rain water, her khaki jacket soaked through and her red satin heels ruined because of the mud. She was a mess, but she figured it was worth it. The room she stood in was draped in scarlet red and indigo tapestries and was lit by a dozen candles or so. There was a dripping, rusty sink with a full drying rack of rather clean dishes, a tiny window at the faucet where the winy and wet weather could be seen. There was a single long, rectangular table in the center of the room with wrist and ankle straps on either end. This was the location where she was told to go to if she wanted to become all powerful? Great.

She had just met with the king of the earth for the first time that morning and she had to say, he was dashing. Too dashing. She had to have him, but her talents of persuasion and seduction were not exactly that great … if she had any at all. Stella had mainly acquired her post as Prime Minister because she had a great press secretary, a father who was well-liked in politics, and a beautiful smile that came with a brain. She was relatable to people, but when met in person, behind closed doors, she was shy, a little too robotic, and didn't know how to "wrap a guy around her finger" as her friends put it. Never to be the one to do the dumping, she felt like she was forever destined to be this pathetic bachelorette for as long as her life continued. Thus, why she had driven six hours after meeting King Endymion to this dreary town – if one could call it that – in the worst weather imaginable.

"Welcome."

Out from the back room was a tall standing older woman with a multi-colored head wrap twirled around her skull. Her face looked young and her body was slender, holding up well to the laws of gravity and old age. She glided toward Stella in her floor length black robe and gestured to the table.

"We really don't have all night, Ms. Belle," she cooed with her sultry voice that had a seductive southern accent. "Or should I call you by your real name? Florence Camp, am I right darlin'? Changin' yer name don't change appearances or personality, honey, trust me."

"How did you—"

The woman started to pour herself a small glass of sherry as she interrupted with her answer, "You want traits of the supernatural, don't you? Yer dealin' with a woman who has seen everything that you do and all that you want. Runnin' away from yer past won't work here."

"I'm trying to create a future actually," she said sheepishly as she took a step forward, her clothes still dripping onto the floor.

"So you want seduction and control. Anything else?"

"What if I know I'm going to be harmed by someone?"

"Defensive powers, gotcha."

"And … I don't want to get caught."

The woman downed her shot of sherry and said, "You won't get caught here child. You won't get caught with mortals. But I cannot guarantee that yer soul, yer heart and whatever will be left of yer body will be protected when other forces try to work _against_ you instead of _with_ you. Does this make sense darlin'?" Stella nodded just to get her to stop talking. "Alright then … get yer pretty fanny up on this here table."

She removed her shoes from her feet, dropped her purse to the floor, and slithered out of her trench coat before climbing up onto the table. The woman tied her down into leather straps that were connected to chains which drained down through the cracks of the wooden planks and latched onto some hefty duty stakes that were plowed deeply into the ground. This was quite an excessive set up for just receiving some simple abilities of persuasion.

"Sit up for a moment doll," the woman ordered.

She did as she was told and propped herself on her elbows as she watched the classy, sassy woman pull out three different vials of liquid. Each was colored darker than the last as Stella was fed them one by one. She shook her head in disgust after every gulp of the shots of what she assumed to be potions. They tasted like sludge. No, worse, they tasted like sewer water mixed with acidic carbonation. Once they had all been consumed into her body, she laid back and waited for them to start working.

"What's supposed to happen to me?" she asked the woman.

"I'm not about to spoil it for you honey," she winked.

After a few minutes, she started to feel a warm sensation in her stomach. It soon started to turn into something blistering, like heartburn. Then the feeling spread through her veins and all over her body. Sweat beads dripped down her soft skin as she felt like she was being pinpricked by a thousand white hot needles. Stella started to writhe and wriggle around as if trying to get the searing touch off of her body. She moaned at first, then started to cry and soon enough bloodcurdling screams were jumping out of her mouth.

"Just let it all take over suga," the woman coaxed. "You'll feel great in the morning."

Before she passed out from the sheer pain of it all, Stella felt her body start to uncontrollably shake like having a seizure. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and everything went black around her.

When she woke up the next morning, her body was still sprawled out on the table top, her chains had been removed, and the woman was still standing in the same spot beside the sink watching over her. She had a glass of orange colored liquid in her hand and she handed it to Stella to drink.

"What is it?" she asked cautiously, not sure if she was to trust her.

"It's orange juice darlin'!" she laughed. "You had quite a fit last night, but not as bad I have seen in the past. We hardly need them chains. You took to the concoction just beautifully."

Her head was pounding like after a heavy night of drinking. She was about to place her hand on her temple when she noticed that her palm had a huge slash across it. She looked at her other hand and her expression of surprise turned into horrid disgust.

"We had to cut open your hands and spill a bit of yer blood to the gods as a sacrifice," the woman explained. "I was gonna tell you but ya passed out too soon!"

After taking a huge gulp of her orange juice, Stella asked, "When will I get to use the powers?"

"That's something yer gonna to have to figure out on yer own, child," she answered seriously, her southern drawl adding more attention to the situation at hand. "I've given you the tools. You gotta learn how to use em."

She nodded to the woman and slid off the table, standing wearily on her feet. She picked up her coat, slipped on her shoes, and pulled her purse up onto her shoulder. Opening up the large black bag, she drew out a couple hundred dollar bills and slapped them down on the cursed table beside her.

Stella stalked out of the shanty little home and walked down the damp path where her beaming red car was waiting for her. She climbed in and drove out of that dumpy area as fast as she possibly could. As her engine revved down the road happily, she heard sirens behind her and flashing red and blue lights blinded her violet eyes for a split second. She pulled over, feeling aggravated and rather annoyed by the whole community. If the police officer was anything like the woman she had met, she would just feel like she was being scolded by a parent.

The cop ambled up to her already rolled down window and removed his aviators from his face so he could ask her while looking at her sternly in the eyes, "Ma'am, do you know how fast you were going?"

"No officer, I didn't," she replied, her voice feeling and sounding like it was coming from some other woman … someone who had a tantalizing personality.

The man was drawn into a slight daze before nodding to her, "Well, I'm sure you'll be paying attention from now on. Consider this a warning ma'am. It doesn't seem like yer from around these here parts."

"Thank you sir," she nodded.

With that she rolled off into the light fog, feeling the magic do its thing. Her confidence was up, she felt her body become filled with life, and she suddenly wasn't scared to pursue her dreams no matter what it took.

* * *

The queen lay underneath the protection of the crystal and cried a little bit as she felt contractions shoot through her body. She didn't want to have the baby here, of all places. Her breath became shallow as sobs escaped from her lips. She placed her hands on either side of her stomach and rubbed it gently, trying to concentrate on her breathing. If she was going to die, she wouldn't lose the life of her baby; she struggled too long and too hard to let some heinous wench take that away from her.

"SERENITY!!"

The king's voice broke through the tension and he rammed into the door with his shoulder several times before a fiery blast burned a giant hole in it. Stella turned around with a huge black, sparking cloud in her hands. Her eyes had turned demonic and her hair was floating higher and higher the more power she used to create whatever sort of weapon she was making.

"The bitch has powers?" Haruka asked, tightening her hands into fists.

"I knew there was something off about her!" Mars exclaimed.

Darien went running toward his wife who was slowly going into labor, but he was shot away from her with just a flick of Stella's wrist. She shook a finger at him, "Don't touch her. She's tainted. It's _me_ you want."

Sailor Venus couldn't take it anymore and sent out a whipping attack with her love chain toward Stella. She was immediately thrown to an opposing wall with black electricity sparking around her body.

"It's ancient black magic from the south," Michiru whispered. "Why couldn't I pick up on this earlier?"

"Because it's really old," Hotaru answered. "I can feel the souls of many people coursing through her veins. She didn't kill them, but she was fed their essence in order to get what she wanted."

Darien stumbled up to his feet as he heard wails coming from his wife who was clutching onto her large hump, "Serena… Are you alright?"

"It hurts," she murmured in between her breathing exercises. "M-my water broke. Contractions are coming f-faster than I-I expected."

"Darien … pay attention to me," Stella begged with saddened violet orbs staring at him as the cloud held above her head in her hands started to diminish.

"Serena, I'm coming," he said, keeping his eyes trained on his wife as he slowly started to make his way toward her.

The more and more heartbroken Stella felt, the _weaker_ she became. The power held within her hands started to disappear as Darien sunk underneath the shield of the Imperial Crystal that was surrounding Neo-Queen Serenity. He sat next to her, kissed her cheek, and placed a palm on her stomach while the other was gripping onto her hand. He did the breathing exercises with her, placing her upper body on his lap. The scene of the loving couple becoming one as the proof of unity was coming into the world shattered Stella's heart. The demonic eyes, the floating hair, everything went away as she realized that this is what that old woman meant when she said that her heart, soul, and body wouldn't be protected against other certain powerful forces. The scouts suddenly attacked her without any warning, deteriorating any type of resistance she might have had.

"She's lost all remnants of enchantment," Sailor Pluto announced as Lita wrapped the convict's body up in multiple strands of electricity.

"Try to slip out of this one bitch," she growled closely to Stella's face whose eyes were gazing off into space.

The shield around Serena started to disappear and Ami slid over to her, typing away on her computer trying to see how she was doing. "Heart rate and blood pressure are elevated. Her breathing is …well normal for this stage. Contractions are closing in and you're already half way dilated," she announced. Looking at Serena right in the eyes, she said, "I'm going to need to keep breathing while Darien carries you to the front of the palace. We're going to the hospital, okay Serena? Are you with me?"

"Yes!" she gasped.

Mina was finally getting up and assessing the situation at hand and soon enough she was barking orders at her fellow scouts, "Setsuna, Hotaru, I need you go to the ballroom and escort people out of the palace. Get the princess and Helios into a car heading to the hospital. Rei run ahead and go get four vehicless to come around the front for all of us. Lita, go get some wet washcloths for the queen. Ami, keep your eye on her condition. Michiru, Haruka, you'll come with me and we'll take this woman downstairs for immediate interrogation." Before leaving, the head scout walked up to the queen who was being cradled in her husband's arms, "I'll be with you in spirit. We'll get to the hospital as soon as we can. Love you Serena."

With that whispered, they all set out to do their specific tasks and jobs.

* * *

Serena grunted and screamed as she sat up in the hospital bed. The medicine that the doctor's had given her didn't feel like it worked at all. Her body was red with exhaustion as she pushed and pushed, trying to get the child out of her system; it had been twelve hours. Sweat drenched her hospital gown and soaked her silver hair. The room was filled with doctors, specialists, Ami and Darien. The rest of the scouts had all finally arrived and were waiting with the princess out side in the designated area.

"You're doing great your majesty!" one of the doctors beamed behind a face mask. With a gloved hand, he gestured with a finger, "One more, _big_ push for me."

Darien kissed her forehead and gripped tighter onto her hand as he whispered, "I love you."

Those words helped her give the final force she needed to help her child get out of her womb completely. When she felt a type of release down below, she flopped down onto her damp pillow and started to suddenly cry with happiness. She was overwhelmed. Serena did her best to steady her breath when she heard the crying of a baby cut through the air, but she just started to weep even harder.

"Congratulations," one of the nurses said. "You have a beautiful, healthy baby boy. A new prince."

"Did you hear that?" Darien asked with tears streaming down his own face as he kissed her cheek. "A boy. You just gave birth to a _boy_. A new prince of the moon."

"And the earth," she replied breathlessly as she tried to sniff her crying fit away.

After a minute or two of trying to gain their composure together, their child was presented to them by Ami. Serena held him in her arms, gently rocking him and grazing a finger down his super soft cheek. He opened his eyes, if only for a moment to show off the grey coloring of them to his mother and then closed them again.

"He has your eyes," Serenity murmured quietly to Darien.

"But I think he's got your hair."

"What are we going to call him?"

"What would _you_ like to name him?"

She looked up at him and tilted her head with a calm expression over her face, "I want to name him after you. I want to name him Endymion."

A grin pulled at his lips as he said, "It might get a little confusing around the palace. Can we nick name him Jr.?"

She giggled a little bit, "Yes we can."

Ami approached the happy couple and asked, "Serena, would you like me to get your daughter?"

"Yes, please."

The blue-haired scout exited the room and removed her gloves as she went walking down the hallway to meet with the large group. They all stood up as Ami strolled up to them with a bright smile on her face.

"Well?!" Mina exclaimed.

"How's she doing?" Lita asked.

"The queen is doing just fine. She gave birth to a baby boy, eight pounds, six ounces," she declared.

There were a bunch of cheers and Haruka joking, "Great, just what we need; another man in this world."

"Rini, your parents would like to see you," Ami said. "The rest of us will have to wait to see the mother-son duo once Serena is well rested."

The princess squeezed Helios's hand and he gave her a reassuring smile as she walked down the hallway by herself to go and see her new baby brother. She entered the room slowly and cautiously, finding her parents' attention wrapped up in the bundled mound of white cloth in her mother's arms. Serenity gestured for her to come in the room and stand beside her father. Darien placed his hands on Rini's shoulder's as he introduced her brother to her, "Meet, Endymion the second… or as we'll most likely nickname him, Junior."

"Hi," Rini waved. The baby opened his eyes a little bit, studying the pink-haired creature that entered the room and then closed them again, causing his sister to jump in shock, "He looked at me!"

Serena laughed, "Get used to that darling. He's going to be looking _up_ to you soon enough." She turned back to baby Endymion and whispered, "What sort of a world did you force yourself into, my little angel? Huh? … I guess it doesn't matter any how; I'll love you just as much as I love your sister and your father. You'll return the affection, won't you? Of course you will."

* * *

Darien sat in the den in the Golden Palace with the fire crackling as the inner scouts sat directly across from him. Ever since Serena had given birth, he found himself taking care of all procedures including meetings with the scouts. This one was of dire importance; they were discussing the final intentions of Stella and how she did everything that she did. They had all come to the agreement after the huge fiasco at the Crystal Palace that they would travel to Earth while construction and upgrades of the security system were being made.

"So she attained powers? How? Explain that to me," Darien instructed.

"Stella confessed to us that she went to the south after she had met you and received a mixture of potions that gave her these capabilities," Mina explained.

"She obtained the ability to seduce, manipulate, and disappear instantly," Rei continued. "These aren't ordinary forms of exploitation either. She just had to look at someone and they were suddenly cast under her spell. You had this happen to you, your majesty, but she couldn't get you to be a complete follower because of your love and devotion to Serenity."

"The great destructions that were happening all across the universe with each individual planet was also her doing," Lita said. "She seduced certain men and women in order to get them to do what she wanted, like collapse a whole bank and make the whole population freak out into a great depression."

"What about the _natural_ disasters?" Darien asked as he flipped through some papers in front of him.

"They weren't natural," Ami answered. "It wasn't an earthquake that hit Jupiter, but a large drill that dug underneath a few layers of land and caused massive amounts of devastation. The huge crash on Neptune was a satellite that was the size of a small city. A few people from the space station redirected its course to land into the planet. And the epidemic that broke out on Pluto was a chemical spill caused by a man who was madly in love with Stella. The virus broke out at a rapid rate and wasn't detected until we realized it had a connection with all of the other planets."

"What was that cloud she was holding above her head when we entered the Imperial room?"

"You know how Serena's powers come from the love and devotion she _gets_ from us?" Mina said and Darien nodded. "Well, Stella's powers came from _craving_ that love and devotion. When she came to terms that she was never going to get it, she lost all of that anger and rage and then just fell into a depressed state."

"Who did she get these powers from?"

"We don't know," Lita replied. "When we went the location that she gave us, there was nothing but a burnt down foundation."

"The local police explained to us that there had been a massive fire there a few months ago and a woman was killed in the tragedy. There was no identification that they could determine," Rei said.

"And one final question, how did she lure Serena up there? Being that pregnant and going up two flights of stairs … my wife is crazy, but she has reasoning behind it most of the time," he chuckled.

"Serena told us that she saw Luna run up there. It was a hologram actually," Ami explained. "Again, using powers of seduction and getting one of the technicians that work at the palace was used to her advantage."

Darien stood up to his feet and nodded to the scouts, "Thank you for your time and cooperation. You have all done an excellent job. You are dismissed."

He strolled out of the den with a smile on his face and walked into his bedroom only to find the covers thrown back and Serena missing from the bed. With curiosity and a twinge of fear settling in, he went next door to the baby's room where Michiru and Haruka were taking care of the little prince.

"Have you guys seen Serena?"

The Neptune princess shook her head no as she coddled the baby in her arms, trying to get him to sleep.

"Last time I saw her, she was pumping breast milk, but that was an hour ago," Haruka replied quietly as she flipped through a magazine.

The king thanked them and left to go look around the rest of the palace. As he walked down the large hallway, he noticed that the white cloak next to the large glass doors leading out to the garden was missing. He sighed and placed his own cloak over his shoulders as he breezed out into the cold air. Snow was trickling down to the ground and the moon was full that night. Darien strolled through the gardens, tapping at a closed rose here and there, making it open up. He clipped off a perfect red rose easily enough as he made it to the gazebo and twirled through his fingers. Sniffing the flower deeply, he kept his attention on his thoughts which were mainly about his son.

A rustle of leaves suddenly broke his mindset and looked up to find his queen leaning up against the large wooden structure he had made for her. He sauntered up to her slowly, pointing the rose at her. She took it into her grasp gently, trying not to prick her porcelain fingers on the thorns.

"You should be in bed, out of the cold," Darien smiled.

"Today's officially our anniversary," Serena whispered as church bells rang through the still air signaling that midnight had fallen upon them. She stood on her tip toes as snow floated down on them and she wrapped her arms around his neck, "I love you."

He placed his hands on her hips and pressed her body close to his, "I love you too."

The two closed the gap between them and kissed deeply, passionately, and lovingly. She had finally forgiven him…

* * *

**Please review for me! **


	18. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Serenity held her son on her hip as she twirled a white rose in between her fingers and showed it to him. The white haired toddler reached for the flower and tickled his nose with it as the sun beamed down on them outside.

"It's a rose. Can you say rose, darling?" she asked quietly, sniffing it.

"Wose," he gurgled.

"That's my boy!"

"Serena! Come on! Let's go!" Rei called out to her from the balcony.

"Coming!" she hollered back. As she walked down the path leading back to the Crystal Palace, she cooed to her child, "Are you ready for the wedding my handsome man? _All_ the ladies are going to want to dance with you."

The two of them bounced their way back into the palace where Darien and Rini were waiting patiently. He cocked his head to the side and grinned at her as she bobbed their youngest child up and down on her hip.

"You look beautiful," he smiled as he leaned over and kissed her on the lips. "And our little Junior here looks like he could take on the world!"

"Yeah, he's finally getting over that pesky cold," Serena replied as she examined his face. "The first time always worries me."

The four of them started to walk to the entrance of the palace when Rini asked, "What do you mean 'first time'?"

"When you got your first cold, I went to the doctor every day for a week," she explained. "Any new symptom scared me to pieces. I thought you were going to die!"

The group smiled and giggled as they made it into the car. The rest of the scouts were taking a separate vehicle behind them to the chapel. On the car ride over, Serena held onto Darien's hand and leaned against him comfortably.

"You really do look gorgeous," he whispered into her ear.

"I'll be covered in baby burp-up by the end of the night, I guarantee it," she commented slyly. "Then you'll have wandering eyes for sure."

"My eyes belong to you and your body only. I've learned my lesson."

When they made it to the church, Serenity was greeted by the pastor, Molly. She had finally healed and was summoned by the queen herself to perform the marriage ceremony. The two embraced at the top of the white steps and she guided the royal family inside where hundreds of people were sitting in pews. Tall, white candles were spread all around the perimeter of the room and white, turquoise, dark blue, and yellow flower petals were sprinkled down the aisle to signify the unity between the two lovers. The family sat down in the front row and the inner scouts sat directly behind them. Across the aisle from them, Setsuna, Hotaru, and Helios all sat in the front. They wave happily to the group and then continued back to the quiet conversation they were having.

Molly knelt down in front of Neo-Queen Serenity and touched the baby's hand, "So this is the new prince?"

"Yes, this is Endymion the second," she said as she kissed the top of his soft head. "Can you say hi to the pretty pastor? Say hi!"

He removed his hand from Molly's and shoved his face into his mother's chest, blushing red as he did. Serena smiled and lifted him up above her head, jiggling him a little bit, "You shouldn't be scared of beautiful women! They love you darling! Smile for Mama! Go on! Smile!"

The baby boy spread his arms and legs like he was flying and then laughed and sniggered as his mother brought him back down to her lap. She kissed his forehead and turned back to Molly, "He gets shy around new people."

"Has he said any words yet?"

"He can say Mama, Papa, Riri, no, yes, Lulu – for Luna – and he said rose today … but it was pronounced as 'wose'," she listed.

A woman who was rushing down the aisle came up to the king and queen and said breathlessly, "Your majesties! The brides request your presence!"

Serena rolled her eyes as she handed the mini-Endymion over to Rini, "Oh boy, here we go. Cold feet."

The two of them stood up and walked down the aisle, following the woman who they presumed to be the wedding planner. The group ended at the foyer where there were two large, dark wooden doors on either side, both with a large ring of flowers on the front, their colors blatantly indicating which room belonged to Haruka and which belonged to Michiru.

"Ms. Tenoh wanted to see you, sir," the wedding planner said, gesturing to the door with dark blue flowers. "And Ms. Kaioh wanted to see you ma'am."

The couple parted ways and went into the respective rooms. The king knocked on Haruka's door before pushing it open. He found her sitting at her vanity with her head in hands and a white dress that suited her figure and personality very well. She was wearing a tight fitting blazer with a deep V-neck exposing her perfect cleavage and a short pleated white skirt that looked like she could go play tennis if she wanted. She looked sporty, classic, and professional; an all encompassing outfit for the most masculine female of the bunch.

"Ugh," she groaned. "I don't know if I can do this."

Her bare leg was shaking and she finally turned her head to look at the king. Tears had stained her facial features and she bit her quivering lip. Endymion strolled closer to the Scout of the Wind and held his hand out to her. She took it in grasp and was helped into a standing position.

"I have been there," he replied.

"What happened?" Haruka asked curiously.

"That day, I was terrified _and_ excited. My future was written out in front of me already and I was supposed to become one of the most powerful rulers in the universe; that was the scary part for me. Knowing that I was going to be leading this life with the woman that I adored and loved was the exciting and comforting part. It feels like you're uncertain about your future, huh?" She nodded to him. "You've been living this life for so long with Michiru already. What will change is that you'll have a piece of jewelry on your hand and you'll be legally bound. This ceremony is a huge deal, I know, but it's really just a way to go through the motions. It's a celebration of unity."

"But what if—"

"Have you ever questioned your relationship before?"

"N-no."

"Then why now?" Haruka shrugged. "It's all a bunch of hype. Tomorrow morning, you're going to wake up next to your wife with a huge smile on your face. You won't have that feeling _every_ morning, but it'll be close to it."

She sniffed a little and wiped away the trails of tears off her face and said, "I guess it was silly of me to become so worked up over this."

"No. It's perfectly normal," he replied with a smile. "Do you feel ready?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Okay. I'm going to return to my seat. If you need me, I'll be around for you," he winked before exiting her room.

Meanwhile, across the hallway…

"What if she doesn't want to be with me?"

Serenity crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow as her eyes stayed glued to the pacing bride in front of her, "You really think that Haruka went through all this trouble to just dump you at the altar?"

"No," she mumbled.

Michiru collapsed to the floor like a child and started to fan out her long silk gown around her. Her arms were bare in the strapless silk gown she had chosen with a pearl and beaded bodice. A diamond necklace with a large aquamarine jewel hung around her neck and her hair was pinned partially behind her ears with diamond bobby pins.

The queen walked over and stood in front of her fallen scout, "This is not the cool, calm, collected Sailor Scout who lectured me on how to make it through my marital problems. Michiru, you know that you and Haruka are head over heels, drowning in love. Why are you holding back all of a sudden? What is scaring you so much?"

"We're taking such a huge step… What if I can't—"

"It's the 'what ifs' that ruin a marriage," Serenity interrupted. "How long have you and Haruka been together?"

"Twenty-five years this summer."

"Will marriage really ruin all that you have been through?"

"N-no…"

"Do you want to vow to be with her for the rest of your life?"

"Yes."

"Then get up."

The scout rose to her feet slowly and the queen helped her by gripping onto her lace gloved hands. Michiru smoothed out her dress and then looked up at the ceiling; she was trying to push the tears back into her eyes so that they didn't fall down her face. Once she had regained her composure, she looked to Serena and gave her a real smile, not one of those fake "I'm fine" smiles.

"I'll be near by if you need anything more," she said to the bride before leaving the room.

Glancing down at the ground she heard her husband ask, "Crisis averted?"

She simply grinned at him and slithered her arm through his, walking down the aisle together. Memories of her own wedding floated in and out of her head as she made it back to her seat next to her daughter and took the baby onto her lap.

The music for the brides to walk down the aisle together started a few minutes later and the large audience that filled up the whole church stood to their feet and turned around. All eyes were on the lovely couple that strolled down leisurely to the altar where Molly was waiting patiently and happily for them. When they approached the pastor, the viewers sat down, and Molly handed them two unlit candles and held a pre-lit one in her hand as she started the ceremony.

"We're gathered here to join the love of these two women together," she announced to the people in the pews. "Their love has been through so much in these past twenty-five years; they've been up, they've been down, they've been through thick and thin, they've been through war and peace. Now is the time when they can finally legally and ceremoniously celebrate their love as bound and vowed lovers to one another for their rest of their lives. The two brides have requested that they each say their own vows."

She gestured to Haruka who was having an extremely hard time not crying. She laughed a bit when she caught her lover's eyes and let some of the tears scurry down her soft cheeks.

"So, um, I was going to write this really long speech for you," she started off casually. "But then as I was half through my novel," the audience chuckled, "I decided to scrap it and just tell you what I feel directly from my heart. You and I have been through a lot. You've been through your phases as have I and yet we have some how decided that it's best for the two of us to stay together. Go figure…. Anyways, I know that you could have been with anyone else _but_ me at this point. I don't know how you stand some of the things I do; singing in the shower, talking with food in my mouth, talking during movies, making snide comments, talking when I'm not supposed to … seriously, Mich, how do you deal with my loud mouth? And as much as I would like to know the answer to that question, I'm glad I don't. I love you more than those three little words can say and I'm overjoyed that you're going to spend the rest of your long, long life with me."

Michiru cried and smiled at Haruka lovingly. She bit her lip as she pulled out a piece of paper from her bodice. The blonde grinned at her through her own tears, "That's real classy, darling. What else do you have down there?"

A wave of light laughter drifted through the crowd and Michiru cleared her throat as she started to read what was on the paper, "I remember the first time I met you. You were watching me swim one day at the gym. I almost thought it was creepy, because you were in your male form at the time, but then I gazed deeply into your eyes; you calmed me down. Later that night at my concert, I saw you again in the front row of the audience… and then again at the bar afterwards. I thought you were stalking me." Haruka snorted and she continued on, "And just when I thought I was never going to see you again, you had left a note at my door with your phone number. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have contacted you; I'm so glad I did. I'm so glad that my heart fluttered when your voice wafted into my ear. I'm so glad that our first date was seamless with mistakes, wine spills, a waiter falling onto our table, and then us bumping heads when moving in for a kiss. I'm so glad that you don't mind my violin playing at three a.m. and even sometimes, you accompany me on the piano in the wee hours of the night. I'm so glad that when I hurt, you're there. I'm so glad that you've stuck by me through my darkest days. And most of all …" She choked up a bit and tried desperately to breath and to make it through the next line, "A-and most of all, I'm so glad that you love me just as much as I love you."

The swarm of people clapped at the end of their speeches and then waited for Molly to finish the heart wrenching ceremony, "Please put your candles together to light as one." They did as she said and the white pieces of wax changed color immediately at the touch of the flame; Haruka's went dark blue and Michiru's went turquoise. They were told to go and place their respective candles in tall, golden holders at the top of the aisle and when they were done with that, Molly was able to say the final words, "Please exchange rings." They slipped simple gold bands on one another's fingers and then the pastor declared, "I now pronounce you partner's in life. You may kiss each other!"

They embraced gently at first, their lips touching lightly and then deeper until the cheers and clapping from the audience made them pull apart, blushing profusely. They ran down the aisle giggling with one another and soon enough the hordes of people followed them outside to where all of their cars were parked. The massive group of people drove to the Crystal Palace where the queen had set up arrangements for a reception. There were tables and a dance floor set up as well as a large, tall bridal table where the scouts and royal family sat for dinner. The couples drifted off and on the dance floor through the night and even Serena and Darien shared a few dances together while Rini was stuck babysitting her brother. After a rather tiring few minutes on the dance floor, the couple returned to the table where the princess was having a tough time with the baby prince.

"He won't stop fidgeting and whining," she complained.

"Sounds like you," Serena commented as she took her son into her arms.

She bounced the baby boy up and down a little bit and patted his back as she held him up to her shoulder. She heard some heavy gurgling, felt his stomach convulse, and before she could pull him back far enough, little Endymion burped up his sweet potato dinner all over his mother's front side. Serenity rolled her eyes in frustration and wiped her son down with her napkin before tending to herself. Noticing that a simple piece of cloth wasn't going to do the trick, she handed her baby off to her husband and said she would be back in a moment after cleaning herself. Darien bounced his child on his knee for a little bit and then got an itch to go after his wife and steal a romantic moment with her. He tried to hand Endymion over to his sister, but she shook her head at him.

"No. I'm going to dance with Helios," she declared as she got up out of her seat, leaving Mina in his eyesight.

"Will you hold onto Junior for a little bit?" he asked. "I'll be back in a few minutes.

"Sure," the head scout beamed as she took the silver haired baby into her grasp.

The king breezed out of the ballroom before anyone noticed and jogged down to the closest bathroom. He pushed open the door and Serena gasped as he strolled on in without any warning. When she realized it was him, she slapped his arm lightly and squealed, "Don't you knock?!"

"You were just cleaning off the spit up, that's all," he laughed as he locked the door behind himself.

In a huff, she spun back around to face the large mirror and try to wipe out the bright orange stain from her white dress. With her eyes on their reflection, she asked, "What do you want dear?"

"You know what I want."

He wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her against his body. She stopped trying to scrub the blemish out of her dress and dropped the cloth onto the counter. Serena turned around and snaked her arms over his neck as she arched an eyebrow.

"You want to do this _now_? At our friends' wedding?" she asked.

"It's been a while…"

"What about this morning? Didn't that count?"

"It's been a while since it's been spontaneous."

"In the garden two days ago."

"Spontaneous and inside."

"North-eastern tower last week."

"In a bathroom…?"

"Last night when I was brushing my teeth."

"In _this_ bathroom!"

He had her there. Darien was slowly starting to run out of excuses for sex these days which meant that they were having a fabulous bedroom – or outside of the bedroom – life. Serena had been asked multiple times from her friends and family members what made her glow so much and she simply said love. A smile tugged at her lips as she pressed it against Darien's. She darted her tongue inside his mouth and the two of them pushed harder into one another. He placed her up onto the counter, their lips still locked, and she wrapped her legs around his torso as his hands ventured along her body. Just as his fingertips started to graze her thighs, there was a banging noise coming from the bathroom door. Darien tore away from Serena's lips and she forced him to return which he gladly did. But when there was another loud banging noise from the other side, they had to part.

"King! Queen! You better come quick!" Mina exclaimed sternly.

The two gathered themselves up and swung open the door. The Scout of Love was waiting impatiently for them with their baby in tote. Serenity grabbed her child and examined him quickly.

"Is he alright?" she asked.

"_He's_ not the child you need to be worrying about," Mina said with an annoyed tone to her voice.

The group rushed back to the ballroom where everyone was surrounding something on the dance floor. The king and queen pushed their way through the throng of people to find Rini standing in the center with Helios knelt on one knee in front of her holding a small, black velvet box toward her. A glistening ring shimmered in her eyes, but her gaze was snapped from the oversized jewel to her fuming parents.

"No, no, no, no," Serena said as she stepped toward the young couple. "You are _not_ getting married."

"Mom!"

"You didn't even talk to us beforehand, Helios?" Darien asked.

"You're too young!" the queen barked as she dragged her daughter back to their table and the crowd dispersed quickly.

"You were younger than me when you married Dad!"

"I had been through four major wars before that and matured immensely, Small Lady!"

"But we love each other!"

"You haven't even been courted by him for a full year!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does!" she snapped. Baby Endymion started to wail on his mother's hip and she sighed out loud in irritation, "I would like for you to be done with your studies and training before you stake such a big step."

"Helios is _the one_ for me!"

"You don't know that."

"Yes I do! It's just like you and Dad!"

"No, darling, it's not because your father and I have had _multiple_ lifetimes together. You and Helios have hardly had one."

"You're always holding me back! You never let me live my life!" Rini cried.

She stormed out of the room with a few weary eyes watching her and Junior tossing his head back weeping due to all of the commotion. Serena sat down at a nearby empty table and was joined by her husband, the two brides, the scouts, and Helios. She bounced the upset baby on her knee, trying to get him to calm down.

"I'm sorry to have caused such a ruckus," Helios apologized with his head held low. "I just thought now would be the right time to propose. I truly do love her."

"She's not ready," Serena insisted. "You saw the way she just acted. She's almost a full grown adult, yet she acts like a child. It's bad enough I have to take care of one blubbering baby, but two? It wears me down…"

"Small Lady really needs to get through all of her training before she can concentrate on a future with you," Darien explained, placing a hand on Helios's shoulder. "If she's worried about being a wife, she'll never be able to focus on her studies and vice versa."

"I understand," he nodded solemnly.

"Can you wait for her?"

"I've waited this long … I can wait longer if that's what it takes."

"When she's really ready, you'll know and then you'll come to us first," Darien instructed.

Michiru reached out toward the queen, gesturing that she hand the tiny boy over, seeing that she wasn't having any luck with quieting the baby. She rocked little Endymion back and forth and softly sung into his ear. After a moment or two of this, he was tuckered out and sucking happily on his thumb. The happy bride looked over at her newly legalized lover and smiled, "We should have a child together."

"No. Raising Hotaru was more than enough for me," Haruka replied with a shake of her head.

"Hey, you're acting like I was some giant pain!" she whined.

Setsuna placed a gentle hand on her back and grinned, "You were like any other youngster; you tired your parents out, you made us frustrated, and most of all you made us feel loved."

"Yeah, but I don't want to try to raise another," Haruka maintained. "Hotaru was lucky that she got out of our parenting skills alive."

"You're talking as though you'd kill the kid," Rei said from across the table.

"I'm afraid I would."

"We all go through that," Darien sighed. "No matter how many children you have, it never changes."

Michiru handed the pleasantly gurgling baby back to Serena and she rocked him back and forth slowly as Lita asked, "Should someone go after Rini?"

She shook her head, "No, don't do that. It'll only give her more of a reason to throw tantrums again in the future."

The night fluttered on and once most of the guests had left the palace, Haruka and Michiru parted from their beloved queen. They climbed into a brand new silver-blue Ferrari that the Uraniun Princess had received as a wedding present from all of the scouts. They waved goodbye to their friends and drove off into their new life.

As they strolled back into the palace, Serena gave Junior to Ami, asking her to put him down in his crib. She laced her fingers through her husband's and dragged him to their daughter's bedroom where light crying sounds were emanating from. They slowly peeked their heads in and then took a few cautious steps inside. Rini was lying on her side on her bed with Diana curled up beside her.

"Small Lady," Serena whispered, "you really mustn't take it this hard."

"You _ruined_ my _life_!" she growled.

"It certainly feels that way, doesn't it?" Darien asked. "You do realize that this was all too fast, really unplanned, and completely out of left field. Helios was … _shocking_ to me. I never believed he would ever do that without consulting one of us first."

Serena stepped toward the bed and sat on the edge. Rini rolled over onto her other side in order to show only her back to her parents. She suddenly felt a warm hand on her bare shoulder and her mother started to speak, "You're my baby girl. You always will be. I won't lie to you and tell you I'm not being personally selfish about this decision. I am not ready to see you go yet. It's not just because I'm your mother, but it's because I haven't seen you grow all the way, to your fullest potential. You're _almost_ there. I sacrificed a lot for you, Small Lady. Please do not let your teenage hormones ruin that. If you feel that you want to still marry Helios after you're done with schooling, then I won't stand in your way."

The pink-haired princess rolled back to face her teary eyed mother and grasped onto her hand with a serious look over her face, "Will you even help me set up the wedding?"

"Of course I will. It's what I do best," she smiled.

Their child turned away with a nod of her head, not wanting to discuss the topic any further. Serena stood up and was met by Darien's open arms as they walked out of the room. Before they shut the door, they heard the princess say, "I love you."

"We love you too," they replied in unison.

The couple sauntered down the long and darkly lit hallway and entered their bedchamber. They swiftly got undressed and climbed under the sheets together, wrapping their limbs around on another in a tired motion.

"Do you think she'll forgive us?" Serenity asked.

"Yes. She'll get over it."

"Does she really love Helios? I mean _really_?"

"We won't know for sure." A yawn escaped from Darien's lips as he murmured, "We'll find out after her universal training."

"I'm so glad I'm not in this alone."

"You'll never be alone. I'm always with you," he whispered.

The king kissed his queen goodnight and the two fell off into dreamland.

* * *

**That's the end! There's going to be a sequel soon, so keep an eye out! ^_^**


End file.
